To “mine” for digital currencies, powerful computers perform trillions of calculations per second. The more computer power miners have, the more profitable mining will be. This all adds up to huge amounts of electricity use.
Where once Abkhazia was powered almost entirely by renewable hydropower, it’s now increasingly reliant on subsidized energy from Russia to help reduce blackouts. As most Russian energy comes from fossil fuels, crypto mining is also contributing to more climate pollution generated by the region.