Iran Issues License for Nation's Biggest Bitcoin Mining Operation

iMiner, a Turkey-based company, has been granted a license to mine cryptocurrencies in Iran.

The mining company has so far spent 311 billion rials ($7.3 million) on setting up the biggest mining operation in the country to date.

The ministry has also allowed the firm to begin offering cryptocurrency trading and custody from within the country, as per the report.

According to iMiner's website, the company is the "first and largest bitcoin mining and extraction system in Iran" currently with 2,000 mining machines already hosted on its local site, with additional operations in Russia, Canada, Turkey and the U.S.

See also: Bitcoin in Emerging Markets: The Middle East

It comes at a time when interest for bitcoin mining is building and low subsidized Iranian power rates attract investment from countries like China and France as well as an increasing price in bitcoin's market value.

Up until mid-2019, the state sought to crack down on mining operations out of fear of cryptocurrency's potential ability to undermine the national fiat currency, even threatening jail time for infractions.

However, Iran's cabinet had a change of heart last July and introduced legislation making crypto mining an official industrial activity. Since then, the mining ministry has been actively regulating the space, reportedly issuing around 1,000 licenses to local operations in January.

See also: How Bitcoin’s Price Slump Is Changing the Geography of Mining

The expansion of crypto mining operations can also be viewed as an attempt to circumvent U.S. sanctions that have been hurting the country's economy since long before U.S. President Donald Trump came to power.

Iran has been tackling with the issue of hyper-inflation as the country's parliament and lawmakers voted to amend the Monetary and Banking Act of Iran on Monday, which would see the nation's currency renamed as the toman, a unit worth about 10,000 rials.