A measure with the effect of gradual sales of equipment necessary for mining in the country.
Crypts in the heart of the Balkans are (temporarily) no longer queens
Kosovo is generally quite calm on its energy, thanks to a large internal source of lignite (90%), a sedimentary rock close to coal that has not been forced to suffer international market fluctuations. While this energy supply is (notably) far from carbon neutral, the failure of one of the two power plants has forced the government to source around 40% of its energy from particularly tense international markets.
In order to lower the electricity bill in his country, which is one of the poorest countries on the European continent, the government imposes a 60-day ban on all mining activities. It’s a measure that gives the strange effect of the panic selling of many personal setups dedicated to cryptocurrency mining, but the measure is only temporary.
In addition, there are strained relations with the Serb population in the north of the country, which, as The Guardian recalls, does not recognize Kosovo as an independent state. In particular, he refuses to pay for the electricity he consumes and has to pay for more than 20 years.
Mining, though difficult to quantify, is growing steadily in Kosovo and the annual global electricity consumption of 126 TWh dedicated to Bitcoin alone has therefore prompted the government to move in that direction.
Don’t waste valuable Kosovar public money
It should be noted that these data should be compared with the annual electricity consumption of countries such as Norway (122 TWh) or Argentina (121 TWh) for informational purposes. So this decision is “clear” for the Minister of Economy of Kosovo, Doctor Artane Rizvanolli: “We have allocated 20 million euros to subsidize energy, which will probably not be enough and it will be taxpayers’ money and subsidize electricity consumption. On the other hand, it is a very energy-intensive activity. and we have unregulated cryptocurrency mining.”
Enough to follow in the footsteps of countries like Iceland where potential crypto miners no longer want to deal with energy shortages. On the other hand, Kosovo has no plans to follow in the footsteps of China, which, at least in the short term, dealt a major blow to cryptocurrency mining while becoming the world leader in the Middle Kingdom. area.
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