45,000 mostly application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) machines were confiscated. The powerful machines had purportedly been consuming 95 megawatts per hour of electricity at a reduced rate. Earlier this month, Iranian authorities shut down 1,620 illegal cryptocurrency mining farms said to have collectively used 250 megawatts of electricity over the past 18 months.
The country's recent blackouts across major cities have been blamed in part on cryptocurrency mining, drawing the ire of officials who have sought a temporary stay on Bitcoin mining until further notice.
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