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This week has been dominated by news about mining on the nation state level:
- Venezuela has officially legalized cryptocurrency mining and established a national mining pool that must be utilized by all miners within the country. Miners must register with the government and provide information about their mining-related activities. Special licenses will also be granted to entities seeking to build mining farms or ASICs within the country. Miners who utilize pools outside of the national mining pool will be subject to actions by the state authorities. In effect, the national mining pool allows the Venezuelan authorities to levy taxes and control the distribution of funds to miners, and potentially freezing or delaying payments to those who have provided work.
- An interesting Coindesk interview with podcaster Marty Bent on the growing symbiotic relationship between Bitcoin mining and oil and gas producers. Take a listen!
- Three Iranian power plants have been granted the ability to mine Bitcoin with their natural gas turbines. Miners have already been installed at the facilities, utilizing power from turbines that are not connected to the grid. It’s worth noting that Iran is under US sanctions, so Bitcoin mining allows the country to generate income using the resources available to them.
- Abkhazia’s government has blamed the state’s energy crisis on crypto miners despite a ban on the industry. However, rather than cracking down on miners, the authorities are considering alternative solutions that include lifting the ban, which would help illuminate and account for the actual power utilization by the miners within the territory.