President of Belarus wants his government to mine crypto using backup power infrastructure | Currency News | Financial and business news

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko

Dmitry Astakhov / Pool / AFP via Getty Images

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko urged his government to use the country’s deserted industrial sites to mine cryptocurrencies rather than going abroad for low-paying agricultural jobs, Cointelegraph reported, citing the media. Russian.

Lukashenko said his country has enough energy resources to power the electric-intensive activity that China banned in June.

The authoritative 66-year-old leader pointed to already existing locations Belarusians could use to mine digital assets when the Petrikovsky mining and processing plant opened on August 27.

“You have to understand, they are not waiting for us anywhere […] Build something with electricity, ”he told Russian media outlet RBC. “After all, start mining cryptocurrency or whatever the name is. There is enough electricity in the country. ”

Lukashenko’s prompt comes as cryptocurrency mining has drawn global criticism for its negative impact on the environment.

Earlier this year, bitcoin mining energy consumption harassed the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, causing it to lose nearly half of its value from its April record.

Shortly after China’s crackdown, various industry experts said the Asian superpower’s ban on mining was one of the most impactful moves on the bitcoin network. As a result, miners located in China have rushed to relocate their operations to other countries.

But Lukashenko, who became president in 1994, has favored cryptocurrency mining for some time. In April 2019, the strongman offered to use excess energy from one of his country’s nuclear power plants to mine cryptocurrencies, as Cointelegraph reported.

Read more: Former hedge fund executive Goldman predicts bitcoin will hit $ 250,000 to $ 400,000 and Ethereum will surpass $ 20,000 by March. He presents his investment case for the 2 biggest cryptos – and shares other altcoins in his wallet.

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