According to Bzhania, the problem of unauthorized consumption of electricity by individuals and legal entities engaged in cryptocurrency mining did not appear today, but in 2016 - 2017. This activity, in the absence of energy development plans, technically and economically justified electricity tariffs, insufficient investment has led to the current difficult situation.
“In December 2018, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a decree banning this activity. What was done next to implement it? No ban was introduced on the import of equipment. There are no materials that the authorities took. The work that our power engineers are doing together with law enforcement agencies has not been carried out, ” Bzhania said.
The head of state noted that after a meeting with heads of towns and regions of the republic in Abkhazia raid activities to identify illegal mining became more frequent.
“Counteraction to this activity must be ensured locally. Such work can only be organized by head of the district administration. It does not happen that the local people do not know who is doing this. For example, the heads of the village administrations know this, but since they were not charged with this activity, they were guided by the principle - we know nothing about it. Nobody wants to make enemies for themselves, and some leaders may be involved in this work. I am not excluding anything. We have just begun to work on a large scale in this direction, ” Aslan Bzhania said.
President stressed that at this stage, the task is to reduce the figures for electricity consumption to the level of 2019, plus 5% of natural growth. At the same time, the head of state noted that the load reduction will be carried out by turning off illegal mining farms, not rolling blackouts, as some public figures are trying to present this problem.
To combat illegal activities, it is necessary to significantly increase fines and introduce criminal liability, President is convinced.
“I sent the documents to Parliament, and if the Parliament accepts them, the fine for 1 megawatt will be 1.8 million rubles, and for repeated violations within a year - confiscation and criminal liability. We cannot help but react in this way. These are very serious measures, but we are forced to move on in this way, ” Bzhania said.
At the same time, President emphasized he was confident that Parliament would take this issue responsibly and support the draft laws.
“I think these bills will pass in Parliament. Perhaps they will be corrected, but without such measures it will be difficult, ” the head of the republic noted.
Aslan Bzhania understands that many citizens have invested in this activity, but believes that at this stage, cryptocurrency mining activities should be completely eliminated.
“The system is collapsing - it's obvious. It does not correspond to morality when someone is trying to enrich themselves due to the fact that no electricity comes to someone's house and there is no warmth. Everyone should be motivated for this struggle,” President said.
According to Aslan Bzhania, the fight against illegal cryptocurrency mining will continue until the situation in the energy sector improves.
“We will visit towns and villages. There will be a result. Nobody did such work, because it is not popular. It will lead to the fact that there will be more dissatisfied people. Such actions will not increase the authority of the authorities, but this is not the aspect by which we are guided. With a certain frequency, we will notify our public about our actions and the state of the energy sector in the country, ” the head of the republic noted.
Aslan Bzhania did not rule out that in the future cryptocurrency mining is theoretically possible in the republic, but this requires careful study.
“This is out of the question at this stage. Volumes of electricity can be allocated as soon as we provide certain rules of the game and their strict implementation,” Bzhania said.