Abkhazia’s president comments on the mining situation

In some regions of Abkhazia, the load on the power grid allows mining, said Abkhazia’s president Aslan Bzhaniya.

According to Sputnik, Bzhaniya said mining is a decent business provided there is spare electricity.

"Technical conditions are purchased, the established tariff is paid, a meter is installed. Where it will not harm others, but there are few such places. From the volume we consume today, which is relatively safe for the system, we can allocate about two hundred million kilowatt-hours for this type of activity," he said.

The president stressed that, in the event of an energy deficit and imports of electricity from Russia, the tariff for miners would be revised.

He also noted that the critical state of the power system in Abkhazia had formed several years ago even without mining, and the ban on cryptocurrency mining was largely declarative.

"The business of cryptocurrency mining in Abkhazia was banned, but only in 2019 and the first half of 2020 equipment worth more than 80 million rubles was imported. The activity itself was banned, but the import of equipment was not," Bzhaniya said.

As reported in September, local media wrote that, due to cryptocurrency mining, Abkhazia’s power system was on the brink of a crisis.

Bzhaniya stated that the authorities of Abkhazia do not intend to ban mining, but will regulate it.

Later, the local Cabinet of Ministers adopted a number of measures to regulate mining, and set electricity tariffs for miners.

In November, local parties and organizations urged the authorities to take tough measures to curb illegal cryptocurrency mining amid the onset of rolling power outages.

Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — the full news stream, ForkLog — the most important news and polls.