Abkhazian authorities want to criminalize cryptocurrency mining

The Abkhaz authorities continue to hastily fight the collapse of their power industry. Due to the popularity of the region among cryptocurrency miners in the republic, the daily consumption of electricity has significantly increased, reaching a record 11.8 million kWh. At the same time, it should be noted that the region’s own capacities are not enough to ensure such a level of consumption, and the deficit was avoided only thanks to the transit of electricity from the Russian Federation.

Against this background, President of Abkhazia Aslan Bzhania continues to tighten penalties for electronic miners. Mining itself ended up in the republic outlawed at the end of 2020, and now I am in parliament fresh package of bills, including not only fines and confiscation of equipment, but also the possibility of bringing violators of the law to criminal liability.

In addition, the law enforcement agencies of the republic continue their work aimed at identifying and stopping the illegal activities of citizens in the extraction of digital assets. The result of their work was a decrease in daily electricity consumption to 9.8 million kWh, which is in line with the 2019 standards.