Abkhazia approves fines and criminal liability for illegal mining

Members of the Abkhazian Parliament voted to amend the Code on Administrative Offences, establishing fines for illegal consumption of electricity for cryptocurrency mining. The authorities also extended the mining ban until 2022. This was reported by Sputnik.

Illegal electricity consumption carries a fine of twenty times the minimum wage per kilowatt of capacity; for officials, a fine of a thousand times the minimum wage.

For connecting to the networks of the single operator of transmission and distribution networks, the fine will be forty times the minimum wage.

A repeated violation carries a fine of fifty times the minimum wage per kilowatt of capacity of the equipment connected to the power grids for mining, and confiscation of the equipment.

Large-scale illegal electricity consumption for mining carries a prison sentence of one to three years with confiscation of the equipment.

In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers extended the mining ban and the import of equipment for cryptocurrency mining until 31 March 2022.

Earlier, the authorities of Abkhazia banned cryptocurrency mining until 1 June 2021.

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