When the sound of explosions from the U.S. airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities echoed, the global Bitcoin network suddenly experienced a "cardiac arrest."

Written by: Nicky, Foresight News

In the early hours of June 21, the U.S. launched "Midnight Hammer" airstrikes on three nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, shaking not only the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. At the same time, the average hash rate of the global Bitcoin network plummeted from about 1000 EH/s (exahashes per second) to below 650 EH/s. This seemingly unrelated digital fluctuation instantly ignited speculation: "Could Iran's Bitcoin mining farms be hidden beneath the foundations of these nuclear facilities?"

Although Alex Thorn, head of blockchain analysis firm Galaxy Research, quickly clarified that "the specific reason for the hash rate drop still requires more data verification and cannot be directly linked to the airstrikes," this coincidence still tore open the veil of secrecy surrounding Iran's underground Bitcoin mining industry. This long-sanctioned country is pushing the game of energy and digital finance to a climax in an extreme way.

The "Silent Mines" Beneath the Nuclear Facilities: Iran's Bitcoin Survival Rules

To understand the origins of this hash rate fluctuation, one must first step into Iran's "underground Bitcoin empire."

Under the heavy pressure of international sanctions, Iran's economy has long been trapped in a dual dilemma of "dollar scarcity" and runaway inflation. The purchasing power of an ordinary citizen's monthly salary can evaporate within a week, and small business owners struggle to raise funds for importing raw materials. At this time, Bitcoin's "decentralized" nature has become a lifeline — by mining Bitcoin, converting it into the stablecoin USDT, and ultimately funneling it into underground banks or overseas exchanges, one can bypass the heavy blockades of banks to obtain urgently needed foreign exchange or goods.

However, Bitcoin mining in Iran has been "underground" from the very beginning. According to estimates by ViraMiner CEO Masih Alavi, Iran's legal industrial mining farms have a total hash rate of only about 5 megawatts (MW), while illegal "home-based" mining scales up to 2000 megawatts (2 GW) — equivalent to the daily electricity consumption of 2 million households, 400 times that of its legal scale.

Where are these illegal mines hidden? The answer may exceed imagination: mining machines piled up in residents' attics, entire rows of ASIC miners hidden in jewelry store basements, and even the ventilation ducts of currency exchange points repurposed as heat dissipation channels. Even more covert is the "hot connection" technology — miners directly draw electricity from gas pipelines, using small generators to mine, completely bypassing grid regulation; some even use satellite networks (like Musk's Starlink) to hide their IP addresses, making government tracking systems "blind."

"Do you think you can mine in a mosque? Impossible." An industry insider familiar with Iranian mining said that the power load in hospitals, schools, and religious sites is strictly limited, and overloads will directly trip the circuit. Miners only dare to take chances in private residences or abandoned factories, but even so, government crackdowns have never ceased. They have seized over 800,000 illegal mining machines.

The "Rashomon" of Hash Rate Drop: Is There Mining Hidden in Nuclear Facilities, or a Power Grid Chain Reaction?

Returning to the hash rate anomaly on June 21. At the moment the missiles struck Iran's nuclear facilities, the "heart" of the Bitcoin network seemed to skip a beat. Is there a direct correlation behind this?

One possibility is "physical destruction." If there are indeed mining farms hidden beneath the nuclear facilities, airstrikes causing power outages or equipment damage would naturally lower the overall network hash rate. However, considering that Iran's illegal mining farms are mostly decentralized "guerrilla-style" layouts, concentrated in residential areas or small warehouses, the overlap with high-value targets like nuclear facilities is not high.

A more likely explanation is "power grid chain reaction." Iran's power system is already fragile — during summer peak electricity usage, the national power gap can reach 30%, forcing the government to frequently implement power cuts. Illegal mining farms consume nearly 1/20 of the total electricity (2 GW/42 GW), meaning that if a certain area's mining farms experience a power outage (for example, due to localized grid shocks from airstrikes), it would be like "pulling out building blocks," leading to a larger imbalance in power distribution and triggering more mining machines to shut down.

Imagine Iran's power grid as a tightly stretched rubber band. Illegal mining farms consume 20% of the electricity, and when airstrikes damage certain lines, the grid dispatch system prioritizes cutting power to high-energy-consuming mining farms to protect livelihoods (like hospitals and water supply). At this point, those mining machines hidden in residential buildings may automatically shut down due to unstable voltage, causing the overall network hash rate to drop. However, this explanation still requires more data to support it.

The "Crypto Empire" of the Revolutionary Guard: Who is Indulging This Energy Gamble?

The chaos of Bitcoin mining in Iran hides a deeper power struggle.

In 2019, the Iranian government officially recognized Bitcoin mining as a legal industry, intending to utilize surplus oil and gas for "foreign exchange generation." However, with the involvement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), this "economic innovation" gradually took a turn — the IRGC and its affiliated entities monopolized most of Iran's mining farms by controlling electricity, land, and foreign exchange channels. It is estimated that IRGC-affiliated mining farms account for over 50% of Iran's total mining hash rate and enjoy the privilege of "free electricity."

"The Revolutionary Guard's mining farms don't care about electricity prices at all," revealed a former Iranian energy official. "They directly draw power from oil fields to generate electricity or 'borrow' electricity from the grid that should supply cities. The government has tried to conduct inspections, but armed personnel guard the entrances of the mining farms during every raid."

This operation of a "state within a state" further exacerbates Iran's electricity crisis. In the summer of 2024, Iran faced the most severe heatwave in 50 years, with 27 provinces entering a "power cut emergency state," forcing hospitals to transfer patients and factories to halt operations due to lack of electricity. Yet, while the public waited for power supply, some military base mining farms continued to operate 24/7 — each Bitcoin mined consumes 300,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, equivalent to the daily electricity consumption of 35,000 households.

"We sit in the dark just to keep the Bitcoin mining machines running," wrote a Tehran citizen on social media. This statement has become the sharpest accusation from the Iranian public against the "crypto monopoly group."

The Warning Behind the Hash Rate Fluctuation: When Mining Becomes a National Hazard

The hash rate drop on June 21 is essentially a "butterfly effect" — the U.S. airstrikes triggered the vulnerabilities of Iran's power system, while the disorderly expansion of underground mining farms amplified this vulnerability. It exposes not only Iran's energy crisis but also the deep-seated risks intertwined with the global cryptocurrency industry and geopolitics.

For Iran, Bitcoin mining was once a "financial weapon" to break through sanctions, but now it has become "energy poison." The government attempts to regulate the industry by issuing licenses, but excessively high electricity prices (the legal mining farm electricity price is 5 to 10 times that of residential use) and bureaucratic approval processes have instead forced more people to turn to illegal mining. This "more regulation leads to more chaos" dilemma reflects the distorted ecology of Iran's economy under sanctions.

For the global cryptocurrency market, Iran's case serves as a mirror. When countries discuss "the energy consumption of cryptocurrencies," they often focus on the environmental controversies surrounding Bitcoin, but easily overlook that in the cracks of sanctions and poverty, cryptocurrencies may become "tools for plundering public resources." Iran's 2 GW illegal mining farms not only consume electricity that could be used for people's livelihoods but also turn the national grid into a "cash machine for a few."

Conclusion

The hash rate fluctuations triggered by the airstrikes will eventually calm down, but Iran's Bitcoin dilemma is far from over. Beneath the surface of this theocratic state, a hash rate revolution is taking place in the dark. Bitcoin mining has become a lifeline for ordinary people to break through financial blockades, while also becoming a tool for privileged groups to seize wealth. When the shockwaves from the attack on the nuclear facilities reached the Bitcoin network, what we glimpsed was not only the fragility of Iran's energy system but also a country's path to survival in the realm of cryptocurrency amid sanctions and existence.

References:

https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/publications/special-reports/bitcoin-mining-in-iran-irgc-operations-and-the-power-grid-crisis/?amp=1

https://blockspace.media/insight/inside-irans-thriving-underground-bitcoin-mining-scene/

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