• Police in Abkhazia have confiscated 396 crypto mining rigs over the course of 48 hours due to illegal miners causing power shortages and rolling blackouts.
• The raids were conducted by the State Security Service of Abkhazia on February 5 and 6, with 25 rigs seized from the Palace of Culture in Sukhumi, 50 devices from a concrete-producing center and a parking lot used for car sales in Gudauta, and 115 devices from a household in Achguara.
• Illegal miners are thought to be illegally connecting to the grid and using public electricity without having to pay for it.
Overview
Police in Abkhazia have confiscated 396 crypto mining rigs in just 48 hours as part of their efforts to tackle illegal miners. These miners are thought to be tapping into the public grid without having to pay for it, which has led to crippling power shortages and rolling blackouts across the state. Raids were conducted on February 5 and 6 by the State Security Service of Abkhazia, resulting in 25 rigs being seized from the Palace of Culture in Sukhumi, 50 devices from a concrete-producing center and a parking lot used for car sales in Gudauta, and 115 devices from a household in Achguara.
Location
Abkhazia is located between Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan – but its political status is contentious; many nations recognize it as part of Georgia but others – including its closest ally Russia – have recognized it as an independent nation. This area’s climate makes it very attractive for crypto miners due to low electricity costs – however this has caused problems as new overhead lines have been quickly overloaded due to illegal activities.
Illegal Crypto Mining
Crypto mining operations are becoming increasingly popular throughout Abkhazia because of its affordable energy rates – however some miners are taking advantage by illegally connecting their hardware directly into public grids without paying. This has caused massive disruptions such as outages that last up five hours at a time which has resulted government cracking down on these activities with police raids confiscating 396 crypto mining rigs over 48 hours.
Raids
The first raid took place at the Palace of Culture located within Sukhumi where officers discovered 25 rigs while another 50 devices were found during subsequent raids at other locations such as Gudauta region’s concrete-producing center or even parking lots used for car sales; these illegal activities had already consumed 250 kWh worth electricity consumption according public grids before they could be stopped by police forces.
Conclusion
In conclusion this crackdown is just one step towards curbing illegal activities within Abkhazia but more needs done if government wants combat power shortages caused by criminals who tap into public grids without paying anything; additional cross-border supplies help alleviate current situation but until proper legislation passed enforced properly there will always risk disruption services within region either through outages or costly bills associated with unauthorized consumption energy sources .