# Blackouts Articoli collegati

How cheap power turned Libya into a Bitcoin mining hotspot

Libya's heavily subsidized electricity, priced as low as $0.004 per kWh, enabled a hidden Bitcoin mining boom, making it profitable to run even outdated mining hardware. At its peak, Libya contributed an estimated 0.6% of the global Bitcoin hash rate—the highest in Africa and the Arab world. Mining operations, often set up in abandoned factories or warehouses, exploited legal ambiguities despite a 2018 central bank ban on cryptocurrency use. Authorities now link these illegal farms to severe power shortages, leading to increased raids, equipment seizures, and prison sentences. With mining consuming roughly 2% of national electricity, the government faces pressure to either regulate and tax the industry or enforce a complete shutdown.

cointelegraph12/19 04:53