IRGC Energy Theft: How State-Sponsored Crypto Mining Fuels Global Sanctions

When the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s elite military and economic force started using state power grids to run massive crypto mining rigs, it wasn’t just stealing electricity—it was undermining national stability. In 2023, Iranian officials admitted that up to 20% of the country’s power was being siphoned off by illegal mining operations, many tied directly to the IRGC. This isn’t just about crypto—it’s about how governments exploit digital assets to bypass sanctions, fund military projects, and evade accountability.

Energy theft isn’t new, but crypto mining made it scalable. Unlike factories or factories, mining rigs can run 24/7 in hidden warehouses, using cheap or stolen power to generate Bitcoin and Ethereum. The IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s elite military and economic force allegedly used these profits to fund proxy wars, missile programs, and cyberattacks—all while ordinary Iranians faced rolling blackouts. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned multiple IRGC-linked mining firms in 2024, freezing assets and blocking access to global crypto exchanges. Meanwhile, countries like Angola, a nation that banned all crypto mining in 2024 after power shortages crippled hospitals and Russia, where unlicensed exchanges face criminal penalties cracked down hard, not just on individuals, but on the state-backed networks enabling them.

What’s happening in Iran isn’t an isolated case. It’s a blueprint. When a regime controls both the power grid and the blockchain infrastructure, it turns energy theft into a financial weapon. The IRGC energy theft scandal exposed how crypto mining can be weaponized—not by anarchists, but by state actors with global reach. That’s why governments are now tracking mining hardware shipments, auditing electricity usage patterns, and linking blockchain activity to sanctioned entities. You can’t separate crypto from energy policy anymore. The same tools that let you trade tokens on a decentralized exchange are now being used to fund military operations under the cover of blackouts.

What follows are real investigations into how crypto mining ties into global sanctions, energy crises, and state-level fraud. You’ll find reviews of exchanges banned in Russia, breakdowns of asset seizures in the U.S., and deep dives into how countries like Angola and Cuba are responding. This isn’t theoretical. These are the real-world consequences of turning electricity into cryptocurrency—and who pays the price when the lights go out.