Kosovo police recently seized 174 crypto mining devices from a majority Serb region in the north of the country. This action has triggered an exchange of accusations between Kosovo's Albanian-led government and Serbia, with tensions running high between the three sides. While Pristina has described the raid in Zubin Potok as a way of discouraging illegal activities such as cryptocurrencies mining, Belgrade has claimed that the measure is part of a continued harassment of the local Serbs.

Kosovo's government has taken measures against cryptocurrency mining to respond to the global energy crisis. In January 2022, both Pristina and Belgrade imposed a ban on such activities in the region, with hundreds of crypto-mining machines seized last year. In August, the Economic Minister Artane Rizvanolli announced an operation in Zubin Potok to seize 174 devices designed to mint digital currencies. She stated that the decision was taken in order to prevent people from avoiding paying their energy bills.

Serbia has framed this move as one targeting its citizens, with the Office for Kosovo and Metohija under its government pointing out that the raids were carried out on Good Friday, a holy day for Orthodox Christians. The cabinet chief of Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani Blerim Vela argued that “the Serbian government openly supports criminal activity in northern Kosovo and tries to present it as an attack on local Serbs”.

Electricity consumers in Serb-dominated northern Kosovo have failed to pay their bills for over two decades. This has resulted in a total of unpaid electricity and water bills in four northern Serbian municipalities exceeding €300 million (almost $330 million). The dispute between Albanian, Serb and Kosovo officials is likely to continue until an agreement is reached.



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