Iran licenses Bitcoin mining firm for $ 7.3 million, move to ease US sanctions

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Iran has issued a license to mine bitcoin to Iminer, a company based in Turkey. Iminer will operate up to 6,000 rigs, with a computing power of 96,000 terahash per second (TH / s) in total.

According to media reports, the miner spent $ 7.3 million on the creation of the mining plant, located in the central Iranian city of Semnan. It is Iran’s largest mining farm, reports say, as the country seeks to exploit bitcoin to ease the impact of U.S. economic sanctions.

The license granted by the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade has also enabled Iminer to offer trade and custody services in the Middle Eastern country.

The 7-year-old Turkish company sees itself as an expert in “bitcoin mining and investment in the mining sector,” according to its website. Managing the Aladdin range of cryptocurrency mining machines, Iminer claims to have operations in five countries – Turkey, Russia, the United States, Canada and Iran – and over 300 employees.

Miners from as far away as Ukraine and China are flocking to Iranian coasts, lured by the Islamic State’s cheap electricity. But the Iranian government’s attraction to bitcoin is both political and economic, primarily motivated by the desire for financial freedom from the US government’s excess.

Until last year, when mining received official recognition as an industrial activity, the government appeared suspicious of cryptocurrencies, worried about their ability to circumvent the central authority in financial transactions. However, Iran has since released more than 1,000 cryptocurrency mining licenses.

Iran, the world’s third largest oil producer, hopes to exploit bitcoin to evade US economic sanctions, which have severely decimated the petrodollar, the lifeblood of the economy. As of now, the US dollar dominates global financial transactions.

What do you think of bitcoin mining in Iran? Let us know in the comments section below.

Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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