Unlicensed Crypto Mining in Iran: How the IRGC Controls the Nation's Power
Mar, 1 2026
Iran’s electricity grid is crumbling. Cities go dark for hours. Factories shut down. And yet, in hidden warehouses, military bases, and secret industrial zones, thousands of cryptocurrency mining rigs hum nonstop-powered by electricity that should be going to homes, hospitals, and schools. This isn’t a black market accident. It’s a state-run operation. And it’s led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
How Iran’s Crypto Mining Became a Military Project
In 2019, Iran officially legalized cryptocurrency mining. On paper, it was a smart move: use cheap energy to earn hard currency when sanctions cut off access to global banking. But the law didn’t apply equally. While private miners had to register, pay high electricity rates, and sell their Bitcoin to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), the IRGC started building massive mining farms with zero oversight. By 2020, the IRGC had already taken control of the most valuable resource in crypto mining: electricity. Iran’s government heavily subsidizes power, charging as little as $0.02 per kilowatt-hour-far below global averages. But private miners? They’re forced to pay full price. The IRGC? They don’t pay at all. A 175-megawatt Bitcoin mining farm in Rafsanjan, Kerman Province, is one of the clearest examples. Officially, it’s a joint venture with Chinese investors. In reality, it’s owned and operated by IRGC-linked companies. The facility runs 24/7, using power lines built just for it, bypassing public grids entirely. This isn’t an exception. It’s the rule.The Numbers Don’t Lie
There are roughly 180,000 mining devices operating across Iran. About 80,000 are in private hands. That leaves 100,000-more than half-under the control of state-backed entities. Most of those belong to the IRGC or its affiliated organizations, like Astan Quds Razavi, a massive religious foundation directly supervised by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. These aren’t hobbyists with a few rigs in their garages. These are industrial-scale operations. Each ASIC miner consumes as much power as a small apartment. A single large farm can use more electricity than a city of 50,000 people. And they’re not just mining Bitcoin. They’re mining Ethereum, Monero, and other coins that can be quickly converted into cash outside Iran’s banking system.How the IRGC Avoids Detection
The IRGC doesn’t need to hide because it doesn’t have to. In 2022, Iran’s parliament quietly passed a law allowing military units to build their own power plants and transmission lines. That meant the IRGC could now legally siphon electricity from public grids and reroute it to their mining farms-without ever being billed. They also control the hardware supply. Chinese companies, desperate for buyers in a sanctions-hit market, shipped tens of thousands of ASIC miners directly to IRGC-affiliated firms. These machines were shipped under false labels: “industrial cooling equipment,” “data servers for telecom,” even “agricultural monitoring systems.” Once inside Iran, they were reconfigured into mining rigs. Even when authorities claim to crack down on “unlicensed” mining, they only target small operators. The big players? Protected. Armed guards stand outside mining centers. Police don’t show up. Inspectors don’t ask questions. The IRGC doesn’t just mine crypto-it owns the infrastructure that makes it possible.
The Human Cost
While IRGC mining farms run nonstop, Iranian families live without power. In winter, Tehran’s hospitals use backup generators. In summer, refrigerators in rural towns go empty. Children study by candlelight. Factories can’t meet deadlines. Energy Minister Ali Abadi, a former IRGC commander himself, publicly called unauthorized mining “an ugly and unpleasant theft.” But his past ties to the very group he condemned speak louder than his words. The energy consumed by these mining operations could power 3 million homes. Instead, it’s being used to generate Bitcoin for a military elite. The result? A two-tiered system: one for the regime, one for the people.Crypto as a Sanctions Evasion Tool
This isn’t just about electricity. It’s about survival. With U.S. and EU sanctions blocking Iran from global banking, the IRGC needed a way to move money without detection. Crypto became the answer. Bitcoin and Monero transactions leave no paper trail. No banks. No intermediaries. No audits. Just wallet addresses. And the IRGC has built a network of wallets tied to its operations-funds used to buy weapons, fund militias in Syria and Yemen, and pay mercenaries across the region. U.S. Treasury and Israeli intelligence agencies have identified dozens of crypto wallets linked to IRGC units. Some have moved millions in Bitcoin. Others are used to launder funds through exchanges in Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the UAE. The regime doesn’t need to use banks. It uses blockchain.