Norway's finance minister is against favoring BTC miners.

Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has called on the government to abolish the program that allows domestic bitcoin miners to pay a reduced rate for electricity. In his view, the current market situation and the ongoing energy crisis in Europe are key reasons to eliminate the current privileges.

In 2016, the Norwegian government introduced lower energy rates for cryptocurrency miners, allowing them to pay less for electricity than average consumers.

According to the Finance Minister, however, the macroeconomic picture has changed so drastically that the above privileges need to be changed.

“We are now in a completely different situation in the energy market than when the reduced rate was introduced in 2016 (…). In many places, the supply of energy is under pressure, resulting in higher prices”, he said. — “At the same time, we are seeing the development of cryptocurrency digging in Norway. We need this power (…). That's why the government will abandon the program [for BTC miners]”, he added.

The minister further said that abolishing the program would bring NOK 150 million (about $14 million) in additional revenue to the Norwegian economy.

Energy crisis

Currently, the European energy market is under great pressure due to limited energy supplies from Russia. The COVID-19 pandemic is another factor that has worsened the situation. Many companies have reduced their demand for electricity between 2020 and early 2022. However, power generators have not been able to meet the renewed demand in the last few months, leading to higher prices.

It is worth mentioning, however, that Norway has recently become an attractive destination for bitcoin miners. The country accounts for about 0.7% of the global hash, which, given its relatively small population, is still a significant number.

In Norway, a small portion of electricity is generated by wind, with 88% coming from hydropower, as the humid climate and mountainous terrain favor the process.

Not long ago, a local company in the mining market - Kryptovault AS – promised to move its operations to the north of the country, due to the extensive water sources in the area. Like many of its Norwegian competitors, the company mines bitcoins almost entirely through renewable energy (98% comes from hydropower).

Translated and published with permission fromhttps://bitcoin.pl/trygve-slagsvold-vedum