Investigation: US military attack on Iran caused bitcoin mining power to plummet

Bitcoin's global hashrate has plummeted in just a few days, prompting widespread speculation on X (formerly Twitter), which many believe may be linked to the June 22 US air strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Iran is considered one of the big bitcoin mining countries. In 2019, the Iranian government legalized mining and issued licenses to operators. Iranian miners use cheap electricity provided by fossil fuels and nuclear power to mine. Iran once held 4.5% of the global mining share, although that has now dropped to about 3.1%.
The US bombardment may have hit power infrastructure close to Iran's main mining facilities. Following the escalation of tensions, there were reports of power outages and network outages in both Iran and Israel. This meant that Iranian miners were affected, whether by actual sabotage or by blackouts.

Although it is not clear whether the sabotage of bitcoin mining was the deliberate target of the attack, it is likely to be a collateral effect caused by the sabotage of the energy system. According to Al Jazeera, the June 22 US attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, caused damage to power infrastructure, such as the destruction of critical power infrastructure at Natanz (such as substations, main power buildings, emergency power supplies, and backup generators), which may have caused mining machines to go offline.