Bitcoin’s Dual Life Amid Middle Eastern Conflict: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Seizes Chinese Miners’ Assets, While Civilians Escape with Private Keys
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Bitcoin’s Dual Life Amid Middle Eastern Conflict: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Seizes Chinese Miners’ Assets, While Civilians Escape with Private Keys
For civilians under fire, this is not merely computing power—it is potentially the only savings that cannot be wiped out by a single ban.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsMany people are watching Wall Street, yet overlooking the fact that Iranian mining rigs are operating amid the chaos of war.
A set of data may reshape your understanding:
The global average cost to mine one bitcoin is approximately $90,000—while in Iran, it’s only $1,300.
Today, with tensions persisting across the Middle East, bitcoin’s significance for this region extends far beyond speculation.
For civilians living under bombardment, it represents not merely computational power—but potentially the only savings immune to being wiped out by a single executive order.
I. The State Enters Mining
Iran’s $1,300-per-bitcoin mining cost stems from a simple reality:
Iran holds the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves—but due to sanctions, it cannot export them. Vast quantities of natural gas are therefore flared on-site. Rather than waste it, Iran uses this gas to generate electricity.
As a result, mining farms enjoy an extremely low electricity rate of roughly $0.002 per kilowatt-hour—far below the global average.
A unique survival chain has thus emerged:
Excess natural gas becomes cheap electricity; electricity powers mining rigs to produce bitcoin; and bitcoin bypasses sanctioned international settlement channels to purchase food, medicine, and machinery parts on global markets.
According to a Chainalysis report released in January 2026, IRGC-linked wallets received over $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets in 2025 (including proceeds from various sanctions-evasion activities—not solely mining revenue).
But this ultra-low price isn’t available to everyone.
Only entities deeply connected to the military or government qualify for such subsidized electricity. These institutions build their own power plants, lay their own transmission lines—and even deploy armed guards to protect mining operations.
In 2021, when energy authorities attempted to shut down an unlicensed mining facility, armed personnel physically blocked enforcement efforts—mining continued uninterrupted.
In 2022, Parliament passed legislation permitting specific military bodies to construct and operate their own power generation and distribution infrastructure.
In other words, within this system, miners are simultaneously power suppliers—and rule-makers.
Official estimates indicate that around 95% of domestic mining activity remains unlicensed. These underground mining operations consume roughly 2,000 megawatts of electricity—equivalent to the full output of a nuclear power plant.
Powered by this computing capacity, Iran ranks as the world’s fourth- or fifth-largest mining hub.
Yet while mining rigs hum day and night, civilian power grids suffer frequent overloads.
Cheap electricity has never flowed into ordinary households’ outlets.
As for outsiders who defy the odds and attempt to enter this ecosystem, their costs go far beyond $1,300.
II. Chinese Miners’ Hundred-Million-Dollar Tuition Fee
News of the $1,300-per-bitcoin mining cost reached China’s mining community.
At that time, China had tightened regulations on crypto mining, prompting miners to embark on a global exodus.
Veteran miner “Old Li” targeted Iran’s electricity tariff—roughly $0.18 per kWh—and connected with local power brokers through intermediaries. Due to inadequate local infrastructure, he chartered an entire plane to ship 30,000 second-hand mining rigs—alongside transformers and shipping containers—to Tehran.
He didn’t anticipate it would be a one-way trip.
Problems piled up one after another.
First came extreme heat, causing widespread equipment failures. Then came the human factor: local partners’ demands escalated—eventually demanding up to 30% of revenues.
When Old Li tried negotiating, his partners simply cut off power. He exhausted all possible connections to resolve the issue—but to no avail. In total, he lost over RMB 100 million.
He attempted to relocate the equipment to Ethiopia to cut losses—but Iranian customs seized the devices at the border, blocking export.
Ultimately, those mining rigs were scrapped in Tehran, and Old Li left the country.
At the beginning of 2021, Iranian authorities conducted a surprise raid, confiscating 45,000 mining rigs.
Local licensed mining operators spoke candidly: “Many Chinese companies rushed into special economic zones between 2019 and 2020 to build mining facilities, but once the 2021 ban took effect and power was cut off, ‘they ceased operations in Iran.’”
Old Li later confirmed: “Few large-scale Chinese miners have exited Iran unscathed.”
Much of the equipment entered Iran via informal channels, lacking legitimate customs documentation. When policy tightened, machines couldn’t be exported—and neither could people.
III. Bombs Fall, Withdrawals Surge 700%
At the end of February 2026, Tehran suffered an airstrike.
Within hours of the news breaking, Nobitex—the largest Iranian cryptocurrency exchange—recorded a 700% surge in withdrawal volume.
Data shows total outflows amounted to approximately $10.3 million between February 28 and March 2.
Chainalysis notes that the precise origins of these fund flows remain unclear, though plausible sources include:
(1) Ordinary citizens transferring assets into cold wallets for self-protection;
(2) Exchanges urgently dispersing funds to mitigate risks of server damage;
(3) High-net-worth individuals with special backgrounds relocating assets overseas.
The motivations behind these actions are easy to grasp.
Since 2018, the Iranian rial has depreciated over 90% against the US dollar, and domestic inflation has consistently exceeded 40% annually.
For ordinary citizens and businesses alike, bank deposits continue eroding in value, foreign exchange conversion channels are nearly sealed off, and exporting physical gold carries extremely high risk.
At this point, a bitcoin mnemonic phrase—memorizable, institution-independent, and stored entirely in one’s mind—has become one of the few remaining asset forms still fully under personal control.
ViraMiner, an Iranian licensed mining operator, reports that roughly 18 million Iranians hold cryptocurrency assets, and there are approximately 300–600 digital exchanges operating domestically.
Notably, while the Central Bank of Iran explicitly prohibits individuals from trading cryptocurrencies, it has simultaneously purchased over $500 million worth of USDT to stabilize trade.
This stark contradiction further erodes public trust in the formal financial system.
Yet this digital exodus ultimately collides with the hard wall of reality.
Following the airstrike, local internet connectivity dropped by 99%, causing the surge in transaction volume to shrink by 80% almost immediately.
The desire to flee surged 700%; the viable escape routes dwindled to just 1%.
Currently, bitcoin trades near $72,000.
But for ordinary people on Tehran’s streets, price fluctuations matter little.
Once bombs fall, the national currency accelerates its depreciation, physical bank accounts risk sudden freezing, and strict foreign exchange controls render it nearly impossible for ordinary citizens to move money abroad.
At this moment, bitcoin ceases to be the grand “digital gold”—it transforms into an undocumented, passport-free escape route amid chaos.
Those taking this path include state apparatuses, generals bearing arms—and most commonly, ordinary people clutching rapidly devaluing currency, uncertain where tomorrow will take them.
They use the same blockchain—but inhabit entirely different worlds.
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