Kosovo is targeting cryptocurrency miners, whose operations to produce virtual currency are draining the country's electricity grid, amid a state of emergency linked to an energy crunch. In Kosovo crypto mining is big business, so what happens next?
RFE/RL Dragan says he makes up to 2,000 euros ($2,270) a month mining cryptocurrency in a mostly Serb enclave in the north of Kosovo, about five times the average monthly income in one of Europe’s poorest countries. Making it all the sweeter is the fact Dragan pays nothing for electricity, used in abundance in such energy-demanding operations involving complex computer calculations to verify transactions. But now Dragan, who didn’t want to use his real name, tells RFE/RL’s Balkan Service that he is putting a halt to his cryptocurrency mining activities. His decision came after authorities in Kosovo announced onRFE/RL Dragan says he makes up to 2,000 euros ($2,270) a month mining cryptocurrency in a mostly Serb enclave in the north of Kosovo, about five times the average monthly income in one of Europe's poorest countries. Making it all the sweeter is the fact Dragan pays nothing for electricity, used in abundance in ► The FINANCIAL BANKS
Kosovo police on Saturday seized hundreds of cryptocurrency mining machines and arrested one person in the tense ethnic-Serb majority north as the country suffered an energy crisis