Crypto farms in Abkhazia have long become commonplace. The reason is cheap electricity., which for commercial organizations is equal to 80 kopecks per kilowatt. Entrepreneurial people have long understood, what kind of money can be made in such conditions and, of course, took advantage of the situation.
Saturation of Abkhazia with crypto farms is very active, despite, what is the law, they are banned in the republic.
And here's what happens.
For six months 2020 year, the customs committee at the checkpoint "Psou" issued 10 consignments of electrical equipment for the amount 42 million rubles, entered the country under temporary admission.
Checked in import mode 73 consignments in the amount 42 million rubles. Customs payments, received from the import of this equipment into 2020 year, It was about 6 million rubles.
for comparison, at 2019 year at the checkpoint "Psou" issued in the mode of temporary import 6 consignments of equipment for the extraction of cryptocurrency for the total amount 12,4 million rubles.
Checked in import mode 17 consignments in the amount 25 million rubles, customs fees amounted to 1,7 million rubles.
Customs payments, received from the import of this equipment into 2019 year, amounted to 3 million rubles.
For cryptocurrency mining, such an uncontrolled environment is a real paradise.. Government keeps electricity prices low, based on low wages and a high proportion of the socially vulnerable population. Considering, that many do not pay even this minimum, there is a catastrophic lack of money for the modernization of power grids and other equipment. Ingur HPP in emergency condition, the capacity of the repaired Sukhum HPP is not enough even to provide the capital, the situation as a whole is of extreme concern.
Under these conditions, a powerful load on the power grid from crypto farms, consuming a lot of energy, threatens further wear and tear and possible collapse. Already, some residents of the Ochamchira district suspect, that unplanned power outages even in the summer season are connected precisely with the increase in the number of crypto farms in their region, where there are many abandoned territories, for which there is no supervision.
Even if we take into account, that all crypto farms honestly pay for the energy they consume, uniquely, that this price is too low for them and even ridiculous, given their profits and predicted trouble from their load on the network.
But first, it is necessary to pass a law regarding crypto farms. At the moment, there is a government ban on this activity in the republic., but it doesn't actually affect anything.. AT 2019 The Cabinet of Ministers issued a decree banning cryptocurrency mining. Despite, that it is prohibited to use the capacities of the Single Operator of the Abkhazian transmission and distribution networks for these purposes until the limited resources of the energy system of Abkhazia are eliminated, no regulatory mechanisms, who could seize all this equipment.
In this way, I would like to hear explanations from officials about the presence of about a hundred crypto farms in Abkhazia, and how the tax is calculated for such special organizations, since to a simple layman it seems too confusing and inconsistent with the real incomes of their owners.
Any business activity, non-detrimental to government revenue, ecology and individual citizens, quite acceptable. Unfortunately, people have absolutely no confidence, that crypto farms fully fit into these conditions!
Damir Kacuba
