Iran’s cryptocurrency mining sector has come under fire as US senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King believe it poses a threat to national security.
According to a May 1 letter to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the senators urge the Biden administration to detail possible ties between the Iranian government and local cryptocurrency mining companies. did.
Senators Warren and King believe that digital assets mined in Iran are being used to circumvent US sanctions and fund terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. Moreover, they claim that these funds were also used to facilitate the country’s attack on Israel in April.
Iran has been under sanctions by the United States, along with other international organizations, since 1979. Earlier this year, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on several U.S. companies involved in illegal technology exports to Iran.
“Unless we take action, Iran will continue to use cryptocurrencies to finance attacks against Israel,” the letter said.
In the letter, the pair cited a report claiming that the Iranian government prefers “newly minted” Bitcoin because it is “less traceable.” Additionally, domestic Bitcoin miners are reported to have generated $1 billion in revenue in 2021.
The senators therefore asked U.S. officials to provide data on the revenue generated by Iranian cryptocurrency miners, their potential use for money laundering, and how they plan to address these “threats to U.S. national security.”
Interestingly, the Iranian government has cracked down on the cryptocurrency mining sector several times since mining was legalized in 2019.
In 2021, the country confiscated approximately 150,000 pieces of cryptocurrency mining equipment to address power depletion issues. However, the equipment was released in January last year.