Libyan Police Arrest 50 Chinese Nationals In Crypto Farm Bust

[ad_1]

Libyan authorities have arrested 50 Chinese nationals in a raid on a crypto-mining operation in the west of the country, the Tripoli prosecutor’s office said on Thursday.

Mining is the process of verifying transactions on a crypto blockchain by solving mathematical puzzles, for which miners are rewarded with more cryptocurrency. It is an energy-intensive process that requires a lot of equipment and electricity.

Prosecutors said in a statement that Interior Ministry officers searched a farm in Zliten, 160 kilometers (99 miles) east of the capital and found miners exploiting significant material capacity to generate currency virtual sessions with the help of 50 Chinese nationals.

Photos and video from the Tripoli Attorney General’s Office Facebook page show a dingy, windowless room full of hardware, cables and servers being raided by authorities. Another photo appears to show the exterior of the building, which is long and narrow and has dozens of fans in the back to keep servers cool.

Italian newspaper Agenzia Nova reported that the mining farm was discovered in a former iron factory.

On Wednesday, prosecutors said police busted another illegal crypto-mining operation in the port city of Misrata, adding that it was operated by 10 Chinese nationals.

The Central Bank of Libya banned crypto transactions in 2018 because the market had not yet been regulated by the government and there were fears that it could attract criminals, including terrorist financiers. Cryptocurrency mining is also illegal in Libya.

Yet despite its ban, cheap electricity in Libya has helped make mining which requires large amounts of electricity popular in the Maghreb country. A 2021 study found that 0.6% of all global bitcoin mining operations take place in Libya.

[ad_2]