Kosovar government halts crypto mining amid power crisis

The government of Kosovo has ceased crypto mining in the country owing to power constraints during the winter season.

Kosovo’s minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, has decided to stop crypto mining following a recommendation from the Technical Committee on “Emergency Measures for Energy Supply,” according to a report by local outlet Gazeta Express.

The report notes that the government made the decision after Kosovo’s power supply fell below the stipulated level, and it began to impose electricity cuts during peak usage periods.

According to Rizvanolli, the government decided to establish a technical committee to evaluate emergency energy supply strategies in response to the situation. Based on the committee’s recommendations last week, the government decided to take emergency measures, including halting crypto mining throughout Kosovo’s borders.

The report noted that law enforcement agencies are set to step in to halt the production of crypto currencies, and work to identify locations where such operations take place. The minister said:

“These actions are aimed at addressing potential unexpected or long term lack of electricity production capacities, capacities of transmission or distribution of energy in order to overcome the energy crisis without further burdening the citizens of the Republic of Kosovo.”

As a consequence of low domestic production and exorbitant energy import charges, Kosovo’s energy distribution firm KEDS announced that power outages would be implemented across the country on Dec. 22. Bitcoin mining is known to consume a lot of power, with one recent report claiming that Bitcoin consumes eight times more energy than Google and Facebook combined.

In recent months, several nations have expressed concern about mining-related power outages, including Iran and Kazakhstan.

Related: Iran pauses electricity exports due to crypto mining and hot summer

Meanwhile, following the capitulation of Chinese miners triggered by the country’s crypto ban announced in September, retail cryptocurrency mining in Thailand appears to be flourishing. As reported by Cointelegraph, Thai entrepreneurs and cryptocurrency enterprises have been taking advantage of Chinese miners’ getting rid of their mining equipment.