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The Government of Paraguay will strengthen the measures directed to combat the illegal cryptocurrency mining operations in the country. In a recent meeting, ANDE, the National Power Administration, the Supreme Court, and the Department of Justice, agreed to deal with these crimes swiftly given the damages they cause to the Paraguayan power grid.
Paraguay Prepares to Fight Illegal Cryptocurrency Mining
The government of Paraguay is preparing to fiercely fight illegal cryptocurrency mining operations. In a meeting held last week between ANDE, the National Power Administration, the Supreme Court, and the Department of Justice, it was agreed to expedite several actions to combat illegal mining operations swiftly.
The three institutions established an inter-institutional partnership that will allow the Department of Justice to deal with these cases easily, incorporating several aspects detailing the persecution and punishment of the actors in the theft of electrical energy.
More so, the president of the Supreme Court, Dr. Luis María Benítez Riera, stated that the country’s courts will deal with these cases quickly, giving warranties that due process would be followed.
The popularity of Paraguay for its relatively low power tariffs has been hurting the country since 2022 when ANDE raised alerts about multiple illegal cryptocurrency mining operations that siphoned energy from the power grid without paying. At the time, ANDE estimated these losses at $400k monthly.
This, and the unfavorable opinion of the government on the activity, caused the government to greenlight hikes of up to 50% on the power tariffs collected from miners, who complained about the viability of these activities after this decision.
The Paraguayan justice system reported it received 60 energy theft complaints linked to cryptocurrency mining since 2019. 43 interventions have been completed in these cases, which affected the quality of the electric energy services, and caused “serious property damage” to ANDE.
Nonetheless, companies like Bitfarms and Pow.re have chosen Paraguay as a hub to establish and expand their mining operations, driven by the country’s cheap green hydroelectrical power sources.