Regulatory Overview of Crypto Mining in Different Countries

With this latest instance of regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency mining in Iran, Cointelegraph takes a deeper look at the major countries that have extensive cryptocurrency mining activity and the stances they have taken over the past few years toward the emerging industry.

Despite the status quo, China's Bitcoin mining scene is a major player in the global hash rate, with China-based mining pools reportedly mining potentially 70% of all the coins created yearly.

The dominance of China's Bitcoin mining contingent could be disrupted if the regulations that were suggested back in April of 2019 come to fruition, with a government agency lobbying to ban crypto mining outright in the country.

The Iranian energy ministry believes that mining operations are to blame for an irregular 7% spike in electricity consumption amid fears of its grid is taking undue strain and intends to cut power to crypto mining operators until it has approved new energy tariffs.

The mining ecosystem received a regulatory stamp of approval in September 2018 after a number of Iranian government departments officially accepted crypto mining as a legitimate industry in the country.

Given the increase in mining activity and the profitability in Iran, the country's deputy energy minister, Homayoun Haeri, suggested that the billing of mining operations should be the same as charges for power exports in June 2019.

Despite the positive sentiment that was portrayed at the tail end of 2018, the crypto mining scene in Iran will have to endure a few months of uncertainty until the new electricity tariffs are approved by the Iranian government.

There are no specific restrictions on mining activity, while several states have taken different lines of approach to cryptocurrencies in general.

The countries mentioned above have significant mining activities, but the truth is that cryptocurrency mining has become a global phenomenon.

Late in 2018, a study suggested that the total electricity usage of global cryptocurrency mining had surpassed that of mineral mining.