Iran crypto mining drains 14% of summer grid deficit, Majlis warns

Energy cost of mining

Mining operations in Iran consume 930–1,200 megawatts according to the Majlis Research Center. During summer peaks, this translates to roughly 14% of Iran's total power deficit. Averaged across the full year, crypto mining accounts for about 6% of the national electricity shortfall.

The financial burden is substantial. Sustaining mining at this scale requires approximately 2 billion liters of diesel fuel annually, translating to roughly $1.5 billion in costs on the national grid. Iran's state utility Tavanir has suggested even higher figures, estimating that 15–20% of the country's power deficits are linked to crypto mining operations.

During major outages, illicit mining operations could be pulling as much as 2,400 megawatts from Iran's grid. That concentration of demand strains infrastructure already stretched thin in a country prone to summer blackouts.

Mining economics and security concerns

The economics of Iranian mining differ sharply from global markets. The cost of mining a single Bitcoin in Iran is estimated at around $1,300 per coin, compared to a global average of approximately $87,000. This cost advantage—driven by subsidized electricity—has made the country an attractive mining hub despite international sanctions.

Those economics have drawn scrutiny from U.S. authorities. Previous reports have documented connections between cryptocurrency mining operations and individuals linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Connected addresses reportedly received over $3 billion in crypto inflows during 2025 alone. The US Treasury sanctioned Iran's BitBank in September 2026 for allegedly facilitating large Bitcoin transfers to the IRGC.

Hashrate and tracking disputes

Iran's share of global Bitcoin hashrate remains contested. Estimates range widely, from 4.5% on the conservative end to as high as 10–15% in some analyses. More recent tracking data, however, suggests the figure has declined to around 0.84%.

The discrepancy reflects the difficulty of measuring illicit mining activity. Unregistered operations—which operate outside official oversight—complicate any true accounting of Iran's hashrate contribution. What's clear is that every megawatt consumed by mining is a megawatt unavailable for hospitals, factories, and households enduring extreme heat.

"For Iranian citizens, every megawatt consumed by a mining farm, legal or not, is a megawatt unavailable for air conditioning during 50-degree Celsius summers, for hospitals, for factories." — Majlis Research Center report