How cheap power turned Libya into a Bitcoin mining hotspot

Libya emerged as an unlikely Bitcoin mining hotspot, accounting for an estimated 0.6% of the global hash rate by 2021, driven primarily by electricity priced near $0.004 per kilowatt-hour due to massive state subsidies. This cheap power allowed even older, inefficient mining hardware to remain profitable, attracting foreign operators despite political instability and a legal grey zone where virtual currencies were declared illegal in 2018, but mining itself lacked specific criminalization. This activity, estimated to consume about 2% of the country's total electricity output, severely strains Libya's already damaged and underinvested power grid, leading to rolling blackouts for citizens and institutions like hospitals. Authorities are escalating crackdowns, prosecuting miners for related offenses like illegal power consumption and hardware imports, resulting in prison sentences and seizures of equipment. Policymakers are now divided between those advocating for regulation, taxation, and integration of the industry to capture revenue, and others demanding stricter enforcement due to links with smuggling and money laundering risks.

(Source：Cointelegraph)