Kosovo police have seized dozens of crypto-mining devices from residents of a predominantly Serbian neighborhood in the country’s north. Authorities in Prishtina and Belgrade exchanged accusations over the move, which could increase tensions in the ethnically divided and partially recognized Balkan nation.
Kosovo government cracks down on crypto mining in the Serb-dominated north
Law enforcement agencies in Kosovo have conducted raids against cryptocurrency mining in northern municipalities with a majority Serb population, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency reported, citing members of the Albanian-led government in Prishtina.
According to Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli, police seized 174 devices designed to mint digital currency. Announcing the operation in Zubin Potok on social media, she claimed that unpaid electricity bills were facilitating these illegal activities.
Consumers in northern Kosovo, where many Serbs live, have not paid their electricity bills for more than 20 years. Serbia does not recognize the unilaterally declared independence of the region, and the rest of the country is mostly populated by Albanians.
Belgrade says the crackdown is an attempt to provoke Serbs and intensify tensions in the breakaway region. The Kosovo Metohija office of the Serbian government emphasized that the raids took place on Good Friday, a holy day for Orthodox Christians, and said the police activity is a continuation of the harassment of Serbs.
According to Blerim Vela, cabinet secretary to Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani, Serbia has described the operation as targeting Serbs. He said that “the Serbian government openly supports criminal activity in northern Kosovo and is trying to present it as an attack against local Serbs.”
Prishtina suspended cryptocurrency extraction across Kosovo in January 2022, citing the negative impact of the global energy crisis, renewed the ban in August, and seized hundreds of crypto mining machines last year. The total amount of unpaid electricity and water bills in four Serbian municipalities in northern Kosovo is reported to exceed 300 million euros.
Image Credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Nada B / Shutterstock.com .
