Venezuela Halts Cryptocurrency Mining to Protect Power Grid

Venezuela’s Ministry of Electricity will disconnect “all cryptocurrency mining farms” from the national power grid to manage demand. This was reported by local media, citing a statement from the ministry.

“The goal is to disconnect all cryptocurrency mining farms in the country from the national electrical system to avoid high demand and continue providing efficient and reliable service to all Venezuelans,” the ministry’s statement read.

According to media reports, the measures follow the seizure of 2,000 mining devices in the city of Maracay in the north of the country as part of an anti-corruption initiative.

The National Cryptocurrency Association of Venezuela confirmed in a post on X the complete ban on digital asset mining throughout the country.

#Oficial Prohibida la minería de Criptomonedas en toda Venezuela.

— Asonacrip (Asociación Nacional de Criptomonedas) (@AsonacripVe) May 18, 2024

Media reports indicate that Venezuela has been experiencing an electricity crisis since 2009. The situation worsened in 2019 following mass outages that left several cities without power for up to seven days.

Back in September 2023, Venezuelan law enforcement seized several dozen ASIC miners and a large weapons cache during a raid on the Tocorón prison in the city of Macaray. The operation involved over 11,000 police and soldiers, supported by tanks and armored vehicles.

In April 2024, Reuters journalists reported that Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA had switched to USDT transactions to circumvent sanctions.

Following this, the stablecoin issuer Tether announced its intention to block wallets of organizations and individuals subject to US Treasury restrictions.