TL;DR
- A 2025 Iranian internet blackout disconnected local Bitcoin miners from the global network.
- The country’s share of global mining power fell, with rigs relocating abroad.
- It underscores growing operational risks from political and infrastructure instability.
Iran’s internet blackout in 2025 reached beyond social media and messaging apps. The outage severed links between Iranian Bitcoin (BTC) miners and the rest of the network, and Iranian mining pools lost computing power within hours. Mining farms paused work because operators could not keep rigs online, submit shares, or coordinate with pool servers. Global hashrate, a measure of total mining power, dropped as Iran went dark.
Reports tied the outage to a period of protests, power disruptions, and government crackdowns. Mining sites faced two constraints at once: unstable electricity and unreliable connectivity. As a result, operators shut down equipment or moved hardware across borders. Some owners redirected machines toward jurisdictions with steadier network access, including Russia and Kazakhstan.
Iran once held an estimated 4–7% share of global hashrate and ranked as the fifth-largest contributor. Near early 2026, estimates place Iran closer to 4% or less, and some ranges put the share at roughly 2–5%. Iran also held a higher share in 2021, around 4–8%, before restrictions and energy problems reduced output. When Iranian capacity dropped, the global network recorded temporary declines of roughly 2–5%. Soon after, the protocol’s difficulty adjustment helped restore normal block timing.
Connectivity joins electricity as a primary input for miners
Low-cost electricity alone no longer keeps miners competitive in early 2026. Operators still price power first, yet reliable internet access now ranks beside power as an input. The Iran outage illustrates the point in plain numbers: miners lost connectivity, machines stopped contributing, and the network absorbed a short-term jolt.
AI data centers bid aggressively for electricity supply, and mining hubs in Texas face curtailments when grid managers rebalance demand. Political risk adds another layer. Governments can cut access, impose limits, or force shutdowns with little warning. Under such conditions, miners protect operations by owning energy assets, securing predictable permits, and adding revenue streams such as AI hosting.
Difficulty climbed to record highs, and miners require highly efficient ASIC machines to maintain margins. Operators who depend only on cheap kilowatt-hours face a narrow buffer when connectivity fails, equipment sits idle, or rules change overnight. Operators who pair energy security with stable regulation keep more control over uptime.
Iran’s decline also carries policy and revenue effects. Iranian mining has served as a source of revenue during economic strain and as a tool to bring in value under sanctions. When hardware leaves the country, Iran loses fees, local spending, and tax-like income from electricity use. Relocation also shifts influence over mining distribution toward regions with steadier infrastructure.
The outage also echoes earlier government-driven disruptions. China’s shutdowns in late 2025 produced comparable hashrate swings and brief changes in difficulty. By contrast, the October 2025 BTC price drop pressured miner margins without causing a direct fall in hashrate. Weather events also interrupted mining in 2025, including cold snaps that reduced operations for short periods.
Iran’s blackout places one fact at the center of modern mining: miners buy power, yet miners also buy reliability. Connectivity failures now decide who stays online.
