According to recent reports in the local media, Iranian courts have ordered the government to return thousands of seized cryptocurrency mining machines.
Over the previous two years, Iranian officials have seized a lot of cryptocurrency mining equipment, attributing the confiscation to the massive strain on the energy grids during the winter. An Iranian court has now ordered the release of previously impounded crypto-mining machinery.
According to reports citing the organization’s leader, Abdolmajid Eshtehadi, about 150,000 pieces of cryptocurrency mining equipment are currently in possession of the Organization for Collection and Sale of State-Owned Property. A significant portion of this equipment will be released following the court order.
Eshtehadi stated:
“Currently some 150,000 crypto mining equipment are held by the OCSSOP, a large part of which will be released following judicial rulings. Machines have already been returned.”
Eshtehadi also cautioned that the release of these mining machines could potentially stress the nation’s energy grid and recommended that the Generation and Transmission Company of Iran (TAVANIR) submit plans for their use to prevent damage to the national grid infrastructure.
Eshtehadi also added:
“Iran Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution Company (Tavanir) should propose new plans in order to make use of [the remaining] hardware, without causing damage to the national grid.”
The government acknowledged the legality of the digital currency mining industry in July 2019 and required miners to obtain licenses from the Ministry of Industries and pay their electricity bills at export rates.
TAVANIR has reported that since 2020, over 7,200 unauthorized crypto-mining operations have been shut down, and more than 250,000 pieces of mining equipment have been seized. It was previously reported that these illicit miners caused damages to the national grid worth 380 billion rials (about $1.3 million) and consumed 3.84 trillion rials (about $16.5 million) in subsidized electricity.
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