The internet outage in Iran has not only disrupted daily online life; it sent shockwaves through Bitcoin [BTC] network. Miners were cut off and hashrate fell sharply.
The outage forced mining operations to pause and led to a shift to more stable jurisdictions. In today’s landscape, reliable connectivity has become as important as cheap electricity.
The event highlights a broader trend: geopolitical and network risks are where Bitcoin mining thrives. Miners suddenly went offline and hashrate began migrating away from the country’s unstable digital infrastructure.
In today’s mining landscape, connectivity is as important as cheap power, and the Tehran outage is a clear indication that geopolitical and network risks now determine where Bitcoin lives.
The 2025 Iranian protests, internet outages, power outages, and government crackdowns caused significant migration and closure of Bitcoin miners.
Iran previously accounted for 4-7% of global hashrate, making it the fifth-largest operator. However, at the time of writing, the share had fallen to 4% or less.
This drop led to a temporary 2–5% drop in the global hashrate, before the network difficulty adjustment mechanisms intervened to stabilize performance.
Source: Hashrate index
The migration redistributed power to stable regions like Kazakhstan and Russia, weakening Iran’s sanctions avoidance tool and mining revenues during the economic crisis.
Why cheap electricity is no longer enough
By 2026, cheap electricity will no longer be enough to keep Bitcoin miners competitive.
AI data centers outbid miners grid capacity, which regularly leads to restrictions in hubs like Texas. Political risks create extra pressure.
The Iranian protests and internet outages in 2025 reduced the hashrate share to below 5%, exposing instability. A network problem has occurred file highs, demanding ultra-efficient ASICs.
Successful miners now need more than cheap energy. They rely on captive energy assets, regulatory stability and diversified revenue streams such as AI hosting. A low kWh alone can no longer protect margins.
Iran’s blackout impact on Bitcoin’s ecosystem
Iran will account for roughly 2-5% of the global Bitcoin hashrate in early 2026, up from 4-8% in 2021 due to a crackdown and energy concerns.
Following Iran are smaller contributors such as Argentina and Kazakhstan, each holding around 1-3%.
The national internet blackout disrupted mining operations, forcing nodes offline and temporarily halting Iranian pool contributions.
The disruption resembled China’s shutdowns in late 2025 and caused similar hashrate swings and brief dips in network issues.
Both incidents were government-driven and short-lived. This contrasts with the October 2025 BTC crash, which squeezed miners’ margins but had no direct impact on hashrate.
Weather events, such as the 2025 cold snap, also caused temporary disruptions to mining operations.
The network has remained resilient through automatic difficulty adjustment, but these outages highlight a clear trend: miners are shifting to more stable regions to avoid connectivity and geopolitical risks.
While the global network has remained stable thanks to the difficulty adjustment, the event underlines how geopolitical and connectivity risks can shift hashrate flows.
Even small disruptions ripple through the ecosystem, impacting miner revenues, pool competition, and local transaction validation. In short, mining is becoming increasingly sensitive to stability, and not just cheap energy.
Final thoughts
- The internet outage in Iran shows that miners are prioritizing connectivity over cheap energy, driving hashrate migration to stable regions.
- Temporary dips ripple through the network, impacting revenue, pools and transaction validation, despite overall resilience.