While some bitcoin miners are estimated to have shut down hundreds of thousands of machines – if not more – others are still out there looking for alternative ways to keep operating.

And it’s Iran, with its extremely low-cost electricity (that can go as low as $0.006 per kilowatt-hour) that’s luring overseas miners. But as attractive as it appears, the journey to setting up shop in Iran isn’t turning out to be a simple one.

Bitcoin mining is, in effect, a kind of energy arbitrage. Miners make their money when the cost of producing coins – currently 12.5 bitcoins per transaction block, plus any fees they’ve accrued – is lower than the operation of the mine itself, including electricity.

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