Iran Enlists Its Spies to Hunt Down Power-Hungry Bitcoin Miners
- Electricity shortfall led to dimmed streetlights, power cuts
- Intelligence officers are tracking down illegal computer farms
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Iran has enlisted intelligence officers in the government’s latest effort to crack down on illegal cryptocurrency miners, as the nation’s power grid struggles to handle rising electricity consumption.
The Ministry of Intelligence helped set up committees across the country to find and seize computer “farms” that mine digital currencies like bitcoin without a license, the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency reported, citing Gholamali Rakhshani Mehr, the distribution coordinator at state-run grid operator Tavanir.