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Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are causing power companies and governments around the world ever greater headaches.
The most recent example: Kosovo. At the beginning of the year, the government in Pristina banned the mining of crypto money nationwide - due to an acute lack of electricity, fueled by the extremely energy-intensive "mining" (prospecting) of bitcoins on computers!
Economy and Energy Minister Artane Rizvanolli said the authorities would now find out where cyber currencies are being produced and then access them.
Failures in coal-fired power plants and high import prices have plunged Kosovo into the worst energy crisis in a decade. The country currently imports more than 40 percent of its energy, around 90 percent of domestic production is based on lignite. In December, the government even introduced regional power cuts.
In the summer of last year, the Chinese government banned the mining of cryptocurrencies - mainly because Beijing wants to introduce its own digital currency that it can better control.
As a result, crypto miners moved to server farms in cheap electricity countries such as Kazakhstan, Iran or Kosovo. US states such as Texas and Kentucky also recorded significantly increased mining activities.
In Kosovo, however, the business has so far been worthwhile: The Reuters news agency quotes a Bitcoin prospector who paid around 170 euros a month for electricity and made up to 2,400 euros in profit through crypto mining. In the north of Kosovo in particular, mining had increased at times: there are many Serbs who do not recognize the government in Pristina and therefore refuse to pay their electricity bills.
