"All law enforcement agencies will stop the production
of this activity in cooperation with other relevant institutions that will
identify the locations where there is cryptocurrency production," Economy
and Energy Minister Artane Rizvanolli said in a statement.
Due to cheap power prices in Kosovo in recent years, many
young people in Kosovo have got involved in cryptocurrency mining.
Faced with coal-fired power plant outages and high import
prices authorities were forced last month to introduce power cuts.
European gas prices soared more than 30 percent on Tuesday
after low supplies from Russia reignited concerns about an energy crunch as
colder weather approaches.
In December, Kosovo declared a state of emergency for 60
days which will allow the government to allocate more money to energy imports,
introduce more power cuts, and harsher measures.
One miner, who spoke on condition of anonymity and who has
40 GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), told Reuters he was paying around EUR 170
per month for electricity and is getting around EUR 2,400 per month in profit
from mining.
Coin mining has been on the rise in northern Kosovo, mostly
populated by Serbs who do not recognise the state of Kosovo and refuse to pay
electricity.
The country of 1.8 million people is now importing more than
40 percent of its consumed energy with high demand during the winter when
people use electricity mainly for heating.
Around 90 percent of energy production in Kosovo is from
lignite, a soft coal that produces toxic pollution when burnt.
Official figures show Kosovo has the world's fifth largest
lignite reserves of 12-14 billion tonnes. © Reuters
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