District residents gathered Svaneti” remote mountain in Georgia Before the New Year, in a church to take a solemn oath to the icon of St. George, the oath states that they “They will not mine cryptocurrency“!.
A local resident told a local newspaper (RFE / RL After the party:
“It is unfortunate that we had to resort to this extreme measure, but it left us with no other choice“.
It was a desperate attempt to deal with what had become an intractable problem, namely Chronic energy deficiency in Svaneti Because of the unscrupulous use of power-hungry computers for cryptocurrency mining.
A few days ago, the electricity utility company warned “ Nirgo Go ”Energo Pro from that “The situation is unsustainable.”
Overuse has led to a series of accidents on transmission lines that supply Svaneti Powered it, forcing companies to send teams by helicopter to the altitude, in harsh winter conditions, to fix it.
The head of the company stated, Mikhail Potsvadze In a Facebook post:
“No infrastructure can handle the kind of pressure we see there“.
famous” Svaneti With its towering snowy peaks, beautiful stone-built little villages, and ancient traditions. Also, it is known for producing Cryptocurrency.
Read also: “What is the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining?”
free electricity
Some residents are taking advantage of a government program that provides free electricity to mountainous regions, with the aim of keeping remote communities alive, and using subsidized energy to generate virtual money in medieval towers!
figured Georgia As a global hotspot for cryptocurrency, miners were drawn to the country’s business environment and the cheap electricity needed for the operation.”mining Energy-hungry virtual money.
Close Svaneti Famous for free electricity for homes and discounts for businesses, a particularly attractive base for the industry.
This allowed some in the mountain city to make something in the Economy default This left many others in the difficult area suffering from power outages.
The area has no natural gas source, which means that electricity (besides wood) is used for heating in winter.
The Other New Economic Hope for Svaneti “tourism”The sector, which particularly suffers from frequent power outages, affecting hotels, restaurants and ski lifts.
This reached the cryptocurrency craze inSvaneti“Climax in a year 2019, when the energy company and the police were forced to go door-to-door to separate consumers who were involved in crypto-mining.
Interval “Go إenirjoShe then stopped cutting nearly ($1.6 million) of mining equipment.
The company also indicated that the miners did not hesitate, and last year, electricity consumption in the region returned to levels 2019.
and consumes the regional capital”Mestia” and neighboring towns nearly four times the capacity of 7 megawatt-hours You are expected to consume it.
Clerics’ involvement in crypto business
Mountain dwellers aren’t the only Georgians using electricity subsidies for cryptocurrency: monasteries have also become unlikely outposts for virtual mining.
In a dump file of the security services’ surveillance files last year, the extent to which clerics were involved in cryptography was revealed.
As stated in one of the leaked reports cited by Georgian media:
for a year 2017, ownsAnton Golokhia“Bishop of the Archdiocese”I want my tomorrow” up to 50 A unit of cryptocurrency production hardware.
It has so-called mines Bitcoin Stationed in his episcopal residence. a year ago 2017Residential electricity consumption has nearly tripled each year due to encryption.
The bishop was unrepentant, never and little in Georgia Dare to confront The powerful orthodox churchThe people of Svaneti, however, were the easiest target.
On the other hand, threatened “The authorities are taking Actions against miners in Svaneti As well as canceling electricity subsidies in the region.
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the company said:
“It is absurd to think that residents should have free electricity“.
Cryptocurrency mining problems in Georgia
He said David Narmania, Chairman of the Georgian National Commission for Regulating Energy and Water Supply, told reporters:
“We have to understand that if we don’t start paying for electricity, we will still have outages and accidents that take time to fix. All this is a problem for tourism and annoying for the population.”
However, some energy experts criticized the authorities and the company for blaming the city and argued that they should continue to get free electricity for domestic use.
On the other hand, he mentionedDavit Shebashvili‘, expert in Environmental Thought Foundation Green Alternativefor a local news site.Meets Ambebe” Mtis Ambebi:
“The Scan Svaneti They deserve, among other things, compensation for the many hydroelectric plants that have been built in the area and that produce electricity for the entire country.”
“ChebashviliThat the authorities and the company “E ” They are responsible for distinguishing households from business users, which they can do by setting quotas. And he said:
“The government has done nothing to fix this.”
Read also: “What is cryptocurrency mining?
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