Iranian authorities seize thousands of bitcoin mining machines

Authorities in Iran have seized tens of thousands of bitcoin mining machines claimed to have been using illegally subsidized electricity from state-run energy provider Tavanir. As per a report by local media outlet Tasmin News Agency on Sunday, 45,000 mostly powerful application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) machines were confiscated. According to sources, the machines had purportedly been consuming 95 megawatts per hour of electricity at a reduced rate, according to Tavanir's head Mohammad Hassan Motavalizadeh.

This is not the first time early this January the Iranian authorities also shut down 1,620 illlegal crypto mining farms which used 250 megawatts of electricity over the past 18 months. The country's recent blackouts across major cities have been in part blamed on cryptocurrency mining.