Fifty Chinese nationals were arrested by the Libyan Interior Ministry for operating minors in illegal cryptocurrency mining in the city of Zliten, the Libyan Attorney General's office said on June 22. A few days earlier, authorities also dismantled another illegal mining camp in the port city of Misrata and arrested 10 Chinese on similar charges.

Searching the mining camp, agents discovered many minors conducting illegal cryptocurrency mining activities, under the direction of 50 Chinese people. Next to it is a dense matrix of wires connecting digital conversion systems, data servers, hardware, electric fans and large capacity refrigerators.

The Attorney General of Libya has expressed concern about this activity, stating that it is a violation of the law, while emphasizing the seriousness of using high-powered equipment for cryptocurrency mining. in the context of the electricity industry being devastated by war. Libyan officials are also said to be actively looking for experts to assess the impact of this activity on the public interest.

Libya's Attorney General, Siddiq Al-Sour, shared visual evidence including photos, videos and an introduction to the premises of the illegal mining camp. Photo: Attorney General's Office

Despite the ban in Libya, the country is still attracting cryptocurrency miners due to its favorable energy conditions. With low electricity costs of about 0.004 USD/kWh, this is the reason why illegal mining camps try to establish operations here. Notably, despite the ban and frequent power outages, the Bitcoin hash rate in Libya reached the highest level among African countries in 2021.

The same goes for China, where cryptocurrency mining is also banned but still accounts for 20% of the global hashrate in May 2022.

Theo Newarab