Georgia plans to install meters throughout villages and towns in Mestia. This is part of the crackdown against illegal crypto mining, which officials believe strains Mestia’s electricity grid.
Mamuka Mdinaradze (Vice Prime Minister) said that Mestia’s electric consumption would be 133,000,000 kilowatts by 2025. That is 13 times more than the average for comparable municipalities. according To local outlet 1tv.
Mdinaradze said that large-scale illegal mine operations had led to grid overload and a deterioration of energy supplies, which resulted in many outages, both for residents and tourists.
Cointelegraph contacted the Georgian Government for a comment regarding the sanction for illegal mining operations and if these activities are given a license pathway to legitimize.
Mdinaradze at a press conference on Monday. Source: 1tv.ge
Vice PM: Illegal Bitcoin mining costs Mestia $9.6 million per year
Illegal Bitcoin mining in Mestia Municipality will push the electricity consumption of the area to over 133 millions kilowatt hours in 2025. This is more than the average for other similar areas of around 10 million kilowatt hours.
Mdinaradze estimates that the additional power output caused financial damages in excess of 20-25 million laris, which is up to $9.4 millions annually.
The metering system will be used both on a local level and at a greater scale in each village or settlement to help identify illegal mining activities.
The Minister said that all consumers in Svaneti would continue to receive free electricity up to the predetermined amount and that these new measures were only meant to curb illegal mining.
Related: Maestro launches mining-backed Bitcoin credit market for institutions
Georgia is a destination that attracts Bitcoin miners looking for cheap energy due to its abundance of hydropower generated by the Caucasus Mountains.
Georgia is also attracting crypto-mining activities due to low energy costs, favorable tax treatments including tax exemptions for certain crypto-related activity and free industrial zone.
Bitfury, a bitcoin mining company, was one of the first companies to set up operations in South Korea. Bitfury established operations in 2014 built A 20-megawatt Bitcoin Mining Facility known as Gori Data Center.
Magazine: 6 weirdest devices people have used to mine Bitcoin and crypto
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Source: cointelegraph.com
