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Kosovo police have seized dozens of crypto-mining equipment from residents of a Serb-majority region in the north of the country. Authorities in Pristina and Belgrade exchanged accusations over the move, which has the potential to heighten tensions in the ethnically divided, partially recognized Balkan state.
Law enforcement in Kosovo has conducted raids against cryptocurrency mining operations in a northern municipality where Serbs make up the majority of the population, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported, citing a member of the Albanian-led government in Pristina.
According to Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli, the police have seized 174 devices designed to mint digital currencies. She announced the operation in Zubin Potok on social media, insisting that non-payment of electricity bills encourages such illegal activities.
Consumers in the predominantly Serbian northern part of Kosovo have not paid for electricity for over two decades. Serbia does not recognize the unilaterally declared independence of the territory, the rest of which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Albanians.
Belgrade says the crackdown is an attempt to provoke Serbs into escalating tensions in the breakaway region. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija under the Government of Serbia highlighted that the raids were carried out on Good Friday, a holy day for Orthodox Christians, and described the police operation as a continuation of the harassment of the Serbian people.
Serbia portrays the operation as targeting Serbs, according to Blerim Vela, chief of staff to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani. “The Serbian government openly supports criminal activity in northern Kosovo and tries to portray it as an attack on local Serbs,” he said.
Pristina halted cryptocurrency mining throughout Kosovo in January 2022, citing negative effects of the global energy crisis, and renewed the ban in August, seizing hundreds of crypto mining machines last year. It has been reported that the total unpaid electricity and water bills in four Serbian municipalities in northern Kosovo exceed €300 million (almost $330 million).
What are your thoughts on the ongoing crackdown on crypto mining in Kosovo? Share them in the comments section below.
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