AFP reported on the 22nd (local time) that a number of Chinese people who traveled to Libya, North Africa, have been arrested for mining crypto banned by the Chinese authorities.
Prosecutors in Libya said they have caught a crypto mining organization and arrested 50 Chinese at a farm in the port city of Zliten, 160 kilometers east of the capital Tripoli.
Video shared on the Tripoli prosecutor’s Facebook account showed dozens of industrial ventilators installed in a windowless building, and computers and hardware piled up on a large scale inside.
Earlier, Libyan prosecutors said on the 21st that they also uncovered another illegal cryptocurrency mining facility in the port city of Misrata, and that the facility was operated by 10 Chinese people.
Virtual currency mining facilities, which are usually open 24 hours a day, require strong servers and stable Internet and electricity supplies.
In Libya, where long-term civil wars have continued, even though power outages are frequent and Internet services are unstable, Chinese crypto mining is being caught one after another.
Several countries, including China, have outlawed the mining of virtual currency, which consumes a huge amount of power.
In particular, China has banned mining cryptocurrency, which consumes too much power, since 2021, saying it does not meet the goal of low-carbon power generation, and will be severely punished if caught.
Libya’s central bank has also banned the use of virtual currency since 2018, and laws to regulate it are pending in Congress.
Several countries, including China, have outlawed the mining of virtual currency, which consumes a huge amount of power.
In particular, China has banned mining virtual currency, which consumes too much power, since 2021, saying it does not meet the goal of low-carbon power generation, and will be severely punished if caught.
Libya’s central bank has also banned the use of virtual currency since 2018, and laws to regulate it are pending in Congress.
