Kosovo Renews Crypto Mining Ban Amid Rising Energy Prices – Bitcoin Mining News

The government of Kosovo has adopted measures tailored to maintain energy supplies in the coming months, including a ban on cryptocurrency mining. The move comes amid a sharp increase in import prices and the restrictions could be extended for up to six months.

The authorities in Kosovo reinstate the ban on cryptocurrency mining

The executive branch of Kosovo has approved certain steps to ensure adequate energy supply to homes and businesses in the coming weeks and months. The Tass news agency reports that the respective decree has been published by the government in Pristina this week.

The measures adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers include helping households meet their heating needs, supporting the nation’s grid operator to guarantee the security of electricity distribution as well as efforts to reduce the consumption of all institutions.

A ban on the use of electrical energy for digital currency production is also listed as a necessary measure. The power-hungry industrial activity was only halted last winter, when the partially recognized republic in South-Eastern Europe faced shortages.

The government explained that they are introducing the “emergency measures” in connection with the current global energy situation, namely the sharply increasing rates at which Kosovo imports its energy and a possible ban on the export of fossil materials from some European countries. The latter may lead to a further price increase.

In a statement, the Kosovo authorities insisted that their main motivation is not only to ensure adequate energy supply in winter, but also to protect the public interest. The measures, including the mining ban, have been imposed for an initial period of two months, but ministers will be able to extend them for up to 180 days with a majority vote.

In addition to suspending cryptocurrency mining last year, the government also went after the operators of illegal mining facilities, seizing hardware in a series of police raids, including hundreds of minting machines from underground crypto farms.

The crackdown threatened to heighten ethnic tensions in the small country as the Albanian-led central government targeted regions with a predominantly Serbian population in the north where consumers have refused to pay their electricity bills for more than two decades since they do not recognize the authority of Pristina.

Do you expect Kosovo to extend the ban on crypto mining to the full six months mentioned in the government decree? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.