Pristina, Jan 8 (AFP\/APP):Kosovo police on Saturday seized hundreds of cryptocurrency mining machines and arrested one person in the tense ethnic-Serb majority north as the country suffered an energy crisis.<\/p>\n
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are created through solving complex equations — an endeavour that consumes enormous amounts of energy
\nTensions between the Serb-majority area and the ethnic Albanian majority government are running high and Kosovo’s government on Tuesday brought in a temporary ban on cryptocurrency mining in an effort to bring down electricity consumption.<\/p>\n
During the operation police “confiscated 272 different anti-miner devices used for the production of Bitcoin”, a police statement said.
\nOne person was arrested, it added.<\/p>\n
“The whole action took place and ended without incidents,” Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said on Facebook.<\/p>\n
The confiscated equipment uses as much electricity as 500 homes a month or between 60,000 and 120,000 euros ($68,000 and 136,000), said Finance Minister Hekuran Murati on Facebook.<\/p>\n
“We cannot allow the illegal enrichment of some, at the expense of taxpayers.”<\/p>\n
Ethnic Serbs in Kosovo’s four northern municipalities have not paid for their electricity since the end of the 1998-1999 war between independence-seeking ethnic Albanian guerrilla and Serbian armed forces.<\/p>\n
They do not recognise Pristina’s authority as they remain loyal to Belgrade.<\/p>\n
According to local media, the total cost of the energy spent in the Serb-majority north is around 12 million euros a year.<\/p>\n
The energy crisis in Kosovo has worsened after a production unit of one of the two main power plants stopped working and prompted the government to introduce power reductions in December.<\/p>\n
The crisis comes also as a result of rising global import prices and increasing demand.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, police carried out two operations in ethnic Albanian majority areas and seized 70 pieces of crypto mining equipment.<\/p>\n
Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli earlier this week labelled the hunt for crypto currency mining an “emergency measure” due to the crisis.<\/p>\n
However, police operations raised questions over their legality as experts say there is no legal grounds to ban crypto currency mining as Kosovo has no law regulating the issue.<\/p>\n
Pristina said in October it had drafted a bill on crypto currency which the parliament was due to adopt by the end of the last year. The legislation is still pending however.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pristina, Jan 8 (AFP\/APP):Kosovo police on Saturday seized hundreds of cryptocurrency mining machines and arrested one person in the tense ethnic-Serb majority north as the country suffered an energy crisis. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are created through solving complex equations — an endeavour that consumes enormous […]<\/p>\n
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