Many people are focused on Wall Street but have not noticed that mining machines in Iran are operating amidst the flames of war.

A set of data may refresh your understanding:

The cost to mine one Bitcoin globally is about $90,000, while in Iran it only costs $1,300.

Currently, the situation in the Middle East remains tense, and the significance of Bitcoin for this land goes far beyond speculation.

For civilians under bombardment, this is not just computing power, but possibly the only savings that will not be wiped out by a paper ban.

1. The National Machine Goes Mining

The $1,300 cost of mining in Iran comes from a simple fact:

Iran has the world's second-largest natural gas reserves, but due to sanctions, it cannot export them, leading to vast amounts of natural gas being burned on-site. Instead of wasting it, why not generate electricity?

Thus, mining farms enjoy extremely low electricity prices of about $0.002 per kilowatt-hour, far below the global average.

A special survival chain thus takes shape—

Surplus natural gas is converted into cheap electricity, electricity drives mining machines to produce Bitcoin, and Bitcoin bypasses blocked international settlement channels to be exchanged for food, medicine, and mechanical parts on the international market.

A January 2026 report by Chainalysis showed that in 2025, IRGC-related wallets received more than $3 billion in crypto assets (including various sanction evasion activities, not purely from mining income).

However, this price is not accessible to everyone.

Those who can enjoy the ultra-low electricity prices are almost all institutions with deep ties to the military or government; they build their own power plants, lay their own lines, and even guard their mines with guns.

In 2021, the energy department attempted to shut down an unlicensed mining farm but was obstructed by armed personnel on site, and the mining machines kept operating.

In 2022, Parliament passed a law allowing specific military organizations to build their own power generation and transmission facilities.

In other words, in this system, miners are also the electricity suppliers and the rule makers.

Official estimates suggest that about 95% of mining activities in the country are unlicensed, with these underground mines consuming around 2,000 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to the full operational output of a nuclear power plant.

Thanks to this computing power, Iran ranks as the fourth or fifth largest mining center in the world.

However, while mining machines roar day and night, the power grid in ordinary residential areas frequently overloads.

Cheap electricity has never flowed to the sockets of ordinary people.

As for those who are skeptical and attempt to squeeze into this chain from outside, the cost is far more than $1,300.

2. The Hundreds of Millions Tuition for Chinese Miners

The news of mining one coin for $1,300 reached the Chinese mining community.

At that time, domestic regulations on mining were strict, prompting miners to embark on a global migration.

Veteran miner Lao Li set his sights on Iran's electricity costs, around 0.18 yuan (approximately $0.027). Through intermediaries, he connected with local forces. Because the local supporting facilities were outdated, he directly chartered a flight to transport 30,000 used mining machines along with transformers and containers to Tehran.

But he did not anticipate that this was a one-way street.

Troubles came one after another.

First, high temperatures caused machines to break down widely, then the local partners' demands grew larger, ultimately directly demanding up to 30% of the profits.

Lao Li attempted to negotiate, but the other party directly cut off the electricity. He tried various connections to mediate, but to no avail, and lost over a hundred million RMB in total.

He intended to transfer the machines to Ethiopia to minimize losses, but the equipment was detained by Iranian customs and could not be exported.

In the end, that batch of mining machines was scrapped in Tehran, and Lao Li left the place.

At the beginning of 2021, Iranian authorities abruptly confiscated 45,000 mining machines.

Relevant personnel from local licensed mines stated plainly: many Chinese companies flooded into the special region to set up operations from 2019 to 2020, but once the ban came in 2021, electricity was cut off, "they are no longer active in Iran."

Lao Li later also mentioned that very few of the major Chinese miners in Iran left unscathed.

Many pieces of equipment entered the country through informal channels without legal customs documents; once policies tightened, the machines could not be exported, and people could not escape.

3. Bombs Fall, Withdrawal Volume Soars 700%

At the end of February 2026, Tehran was hit by airstrikes.

Within hours of the news breaking, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Nobitex, recorded a 700% surge in withdrawal volume.

Data shows that from February 28 to March 2, a total of about $10.3 million flowed out.

Chainalysis pointed out that it is currently difficult to determine the specific sources of the fund flows, which may include:

First, ordinary civilians moving their assets to cold wallets for self-protection;

Second, exchanges dispersing funds urgently to guard against server damage;

Third, certain large holders with special backgrounds transferring assets abroad.

The context for these actions is not hard to understand.

Since 2018, the Iranian rial has depreciated by over 90% against the US dollar, with domestic inflation consistently above 40%.

For ordinary people and businesses, bank deposits continue to shrink, foreign exchange channels are nearly blocked, and the risks of exporting physical gold are extremely high.

At this point, a string of Bitcoin mnemonic phrases that can be remembered without relying on any institution has become one of the few forms of assets still controllable by individuals.

The CEO of ViraMiner, a licensed mining company in Iran, stated that approximately 18 million Iranians hold crypto assets, and there are about 300 to 600 digital exchanges within Iran.

Notably, the Central Bank of Iran explicitly prohibits individuals from trading cryptocurrencies, while on the other hand, it officially purchased over $500 million in USDT to stabilize trade.

This disparity further erodes ordinary people's trust in the formal financial system.

Yet, this digital exodus ultimately hits the high wall of reality.

After the airstrikes, local internet connectivity was cut off by 99%, leading to an 80% rapid decline in the surging trading volume.

The desire to escape is 700%, but the available escape routes have shrunk to just 1%.

Following the airstrikes, Bitcoin prices currently hover around $72,000.

But for ordinary people on the streets of Tehran, the fluctuations in price are of little significance.

When the bombs start falling, the national currency depreciates rapidly, physical bank accounts can be frozen at any moment, and foreign exchange restrictions make it nearly impossible for ordinary people to transfer money abroad.

At this point, Bitcoin is no longer the grand "digital gold"; it has transformed into a passportless escape route in a time of chaos.

Those walking this path include national machinery, soldiers carrying guns, and more ordinary people clutching devalued currency, uncertain of where they will be tomorrow.

They are using the same chain but seeing entirely different worlds.