By Mark Ackman
Last week, the government of Iran had given its approval for a new regulatory framework for issuing licenses to crypto miners, which had been referred to as detailed and comprehensive.
Now, the framework has been put into effect and the government has begun to issue licenses in accordance with it.
Previously, licenses had been issued to a number of crypto mining operations in the country, but they had halted it because of illegal mining activities and excessive power consumption.
Crypto mining licenses
The framework that had been approved by the Iranian government last week was aimed at crypto regulation and crypto mining was just one of the activities covered under it.
The Industry, Mine, and Trade minister of Iran, Reza Fatemi Amin said that his ministry once more had the authority to start issuing licenses to crypto miners in Iran.
He said that in accordance with the government’s rules, the entities that apply for a license for crypto mining will be able to secure the ones required.
Before an entity is permitted to mine cryptocurrencies in the country, they have to obtain several kinds of licenses, such as an operating license, as well as an establishment license.
The latter license is needed for establishing the organization as an authorized crypto miner, while the latter is required for actually starting the mining process.
New details
A secretary of the working group of the Iranian government of cryptocurrency, Mohsin Rezaei also disclosed some details related to the newly approved framework for crypto regulation.
He said that mining centers were now free to apply for a license and they would be able to make import payments with the cryptocurrencies they mine.
He went on to say that the responsibility of issuing the license to crypto mining operations was with the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade.
He also elaborated that provisions have been added to the crypto regulatory framework for dealing with large-scale crypto mining farms.
In addition, they have also added provisions applicable to energy supply for the crypto mining industry, with priority given to renewable energy.
Moreover, Rezaei Sadrabadi also noted that the crypto sector’s primary regulator would be the central bank.
Crypto trading and regulation
Crypto trading in Iran had been banned back in 2019 by the central bank, but crypto mining had been legalized by the government.
Subsequently, a regulatory framework had been developed, which required crypto mining entities to get a license.
They had to identify themselves, were charged with higher electricity tariffs, and had to sell their mined bitcoins to the Iranian government.
Some regulations had been amended in July to enable crypto miners to have access to renewable energy.
Last year in December, miners had been told to close their operations because of the impact on the power grid during winter.
In May, crypto mining was banned for four months due to energy needs, but the ban was lifted in September.
Under the old regulatory framework, about 1,000 licenses had been issued to crypto miners in Iran.