Topic: [2019-04-11] Chinese Bitcoin Miners Lose Again after Flocking to Iran for Cheap (Read 124 times)

Are you kidding me? Iran has always been harsh on every single aspect of their economy, and especially so when it comes to foreign entities trying to settle there.

I highly doubt a serious number of Bitcoin miners have moved their hashrate to Iran. In most cases these articles tend to over-exaggerate the situation, and I feel it's exactly like that right now. If just a few mining entities either lose money or run into other problems, news outlets target the whole mining industry as a whole. Pathetic.

I somehow believe that all these statements are clearly "designed" for press.
I mean, somebody with a bit of history and knowledge in mining, if he wants to avoid confiscation problems, he can simply "diversify" into GPU-mining altcoins. And GPUs are normal computer hardware, so unless somebody comes to their "operations site" to see what they do with those GPUs, at least at the border, they should be safe.

Many Chinese bitcoin miners migrated to Iran in 2018 for its cheap electricity amid China’s crackdown on crypto mining. However, they’re finding the harsh environment in the authoritarian regime unwelcoming.

Feng Liu operates a bitcoin mine holding over 20,000 units of Antminer T9. He told Chinese crypto website 8BTC News that many Chinese crypto miners flocked to Iran last year because electricity is cheap (as low as $0.006 per kilowatt-hour) in the oil-rich nation.

    “If you want to invest in power plants in Iran, the government there will supply free natural gas for the first five years, which further lowers electricity costs.

    “Gasoline costs only 0.6 yuan ($0.09) per liter and diesel 0.4 yuan ($0.06) per liter. Labor cost is also quite cheap.”

Bitcoin Mining Rigs Get Confiscated at Border

However, because of Iran’s generous electricity subsidy, the government has banned energy-devouring crypto mining rigs at border checks. As a result, mining equipment get confiscated at the border.

Liu says he was able to import 3,000 T9 miners into Iran last year with the help of several friendly border agents, who declared the rigs as computer processors. However, he has had trouble importing additional mining gear.

    “The risk of miners being detained and confiscated at the border is quite high. It’s said that Iranian customs have so far confiscated at least 40,000 crypto mining rigs of various models.”

CCN | https://www.ccn.com/chinese-bitcoin-miners-iran-for-cheap-electricity