Europe’s country Kosovo bans cryptocurrency and Bitcoin mining due to spiking energy prices and blackouts. Amid the crack-down against Bitcoin mining, miners within the country have started selling off their mining equipment.
The country uses low-quality coal harvested in large quantities in Kosovo called “Lignite” to fuel over 90% of its local energy.
In doing so, the country reduces energy costs. Thus, it is the country with the lower energy consumption prices in the EU. Because of this, Kosovo has experienced a massive increase in the number of people mining BTC in the past years.
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However, the country had recently experienced some significant challenges because of the up-surging fuel prices due to insufficient natural gas in Europe and Kosovo’s most massive thermal power plant collapse. These factors brought about cases like power shortages and power outages.
Several Platforms Experience Surging Adverts From Kosovo Bitcoin Miners
The week has turned out fruitful for Bitcoin experts who are willing to risk and come to terms with Bitcoin mining machines within the Balkan State. All around various social media platforms like Telegram and Facebook, and other famous venues, thousands of Kosovans have begun posting in attempts to sell off their mining machines at lower prices.
cryptoKapo, a crypto pundit and admin of some of the country’s most significant crypto communities, commented on the matter. He explained that BTC miners within Kosovo are currently in a panic state and are selling or moving out their Bitcoin mining devices to neighboring regions.
It’s worthy to note that all the panicking social media rallies occurred after the Kosovan government placed an immediate, though short-termed, ban on every cryptocurrency mining. The government explained that crypto mining was guzzling the country’s energy and putting the Balkan state in an energy crisis.
Bitcoin And Crypto Mining Procedures
Bitcoin and other digital currencies use the PoW (Proof of Work) algorithm. The PoW consensus mechanism involves computers solving complex puzzles using high-power processors, and in the process, creating new tokens. Then, after successfully making or mining coins, they get rewarded some tokens based on how much processing power they offer.
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It’s obvious what crypto assets are currently being mined the most in Kosovo, one of the poorest countries in the EU. Given that the country charges a meager energy cost and that Bitcoin now trades at over £31,500 per Bitcoin, the country experiences a very vast amount of Bitcoin mining activities.
Also, in the Northern part of Kosovo, the Serbian region hosts the largest size of cryptocurrency mining.
Unfortunately for most crypto miners in Kosovo, the federal government had just recently started a strict ban on crypto mining. This, they did, to curb the spiking energy prices.
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView.com
Source: https://bitcoinist.com/bitcoin-miners-kosovo-sell-equipment-federal-ban/