The Republic of Abkhazia is witnessing a surge in unlawful crypto mining activities over the last couple of years. Customs have reported that mining hardware worth over $589,000 have crossed the border over the past six months. The country is witnessing a surge in crypto mining activities despite crypto-related activities being illegal since 2018. According to Nuzhnaya Gazeta, importing crypto mining rigs remains legally permissible. Importers are required to pay taxes equal to 1% of the hardware’s worth and a VAT of 10%.
Abkhazia earned over $84,100 in taxes just from crypto mining rig imports.
The Republic of Abkhazia is the largely unrecognized state in the South Caucasus, which is considered by several countries as an “autonomous republic” of Georgia. The region states that they’ve earned over $84,100 in taxes just from crypto mining rig imports since the start of 2020. Guram Inapshba, the head of the national customs committee, noted that they allow the imports of crypto mining rigs in order to “hunt” for illegal crypto miners. He further clarified that no foreigners are involved inside the country in terms of running or funding crypto mining activities, but he says that there are “several dozen citizens” of Abkhazia engaged in the imports. Earlier, the government had banned all crypto mining activities, citing a lack of capacity in the country’s electrical system.
Crypto adoption increases amid the ongoing pandemic.
The ongoing global pandemic has toppled the entire world’s economy as countries struggle to get back on track. However, crypto adoption seems to have increased amid the COVID-19 pandemic as people avoid transactions in physical money. Central banks across countries are experimenting and researching CBDCs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, a report by the Bank for International Settlements had revealed the central banks had accelerated their research into CBDCs because of the ongoing global pandemic.
