Paraguay’s Congress will consider introducing prison sentences of up to 10 years for illegal mining
The bill would also allow law enforcement to confiscate and sell off equipment from illegal farms
![Paraguay’s Congress will consider introducing prison sentences of up to 10 years for illegal mining](https://storage.getblock.net/source/1/VPS8gN23y_tWSweSU2c686bNWSw1XhiQ.webp)
20.05.2024 - 13:05
139
2 min
0
What’s new? A bill aimed at combating illegal cryptocurrency mining has been introduced in the Paraguayan Congress. It provides for up to 10 years in prison for stealing electricity from ANDE, the Operator of Paraguay’s national electricity grid.
What else is known? If passed, the bill will also expand the powers of the police and prosecutors. Thus, law enforcers will be able to seize and sell mining equipment involved in illegal activities. The sale of rigs will allow compensation for financial losses ANDE as a result of the theft of energy resources.
In early April, it was reported that progress on a bill to impose a moratorium on mining had been put on hold to consider alternative approaches to regulating the industry. Paraguayan senators were considering an option in which excess electricity would be sold to locally licensed industry participants instead of exporting it to Brazil and Argentina.
Congressional opponents of mining argue that illegal data centers are disrupting the power supply system, with 50 outages reported in February and March alone, caused by illegal miner connections.
This year, law enforcers have already confiscated over 5000 ASIC miners from illegal industry participants. Seventeen raids have been conducted, resulting in the shutdown of data centers with a total capacity of over 50 MW.
Earlier this year, Bitfarms, one of the largest mining companies, bought a site in Paraguay to build a 100 MW farm.
In March, Bloomberg reported that miners from Paraguay and other regions with low electricity costs were actively buying used equipment in the United States in anticipation of the halving. The halving took place on April 20 and halved the reward for mining blocks, but in regions with cheap energy, older rigs can still be profitable.
Useful material?
Market
Australia’s largest financial institutions have refused to process payments to digital asset trading platforms due to the risk of fraud
Jul 26, 2024
Politics
According to the politician, the value of the country’s bitcoin reserves should equal the value of gold reserves
Jul 26, 2024
Mining
The capacity of the Bitaxe device used by the network participant is only 500 Gh/s
Jul 25, 2024
Trends
Meanwhile, Trump-inspired assets have not shown significant growth
Jul 22, 2024
Market
The fee will be as much as 2,5% compared to 0,25-0,19% for competitors
Jul 18, 2024
Market
This is the third consecutive month of decline
Jul 18, 2024