Kosovo police have taken possession of a number of cryptocurrency mining machines from local citizens in a majority Serb region in the north of the country. Both Pristina and Belgrade have exchanged accusations following the move, which could potentially increase tensions in the ethnically divided, partially recognised Balkan state.
Pristina Cracks Down on Crypto Mining in Northern Serb Areas
Law enforcement in Kosovo has conducted raids against crypto mining in a municipality in the north of the country where Serbs form the majority of the population, according to a report from the Turkish Anadolu Agency, quoting a representative of the Albanian-led government in Pristina.
Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli declared that police had seized 174 digital currency mining devices. She reported the operation in Zubin Potok on social media, affirming that failure to settle electricity bills encourages such criminal activities.
Consumers in northern Kosovo, which is predominantly inhabited by Serbs, have not paid for electricity for more than two decades. Serbia does not accept the unilateral declaration of independence of the territory, the rest of which is populated mostly by ethnic Albanians.
Belgrade is presenting the crackdown as an attempt to goad Serbs into escalating tensions in the breakaway region. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija under Serbia’s government highlighted that the raids were conducted on Good Friday, a holy day for Orthodox Christians, describing the police action as a continuation of the harassment of the Serbian people.
Serbia is presenting the operation as one targeting Serbs, according to Blerim Vela, the cabinet chief of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani. “The Serbian government openly supports criminal activity in northern Kosovo and tries to present it as an attack on local Serbs,” he was quoted as saying.
Pristina has forbidden cryptocurrency mining in Kosovo since January 2021, citing the negative effects of the global energy crisis, and renewed the ban in August, seizing hundreds of crypto mining machines last year. It has been reported that the total of unpaid electricity and water bills in four Serb municipalities in northern Kosovo is over €300 million (around $330 million).
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