The BBC has produced a story about the bitcoin boom in Georgia.
BBC Journalist Ed Butler has produced a story about cryptocurrency mining in Georgia.
He also visited Georgia to visit cryptocurrency-producing plants, and also spoke with Economy Minister Natia Turnava and Green Energy spokesman David Chipashvili.
Economy Minister Natia Turnava, in an interview with a BBC journalist, highlighted the country’s potential in terms of Georgia’s export of electricity.
The Minister also talked about the planned and implemented reforms in the field of electricity and emphasized the issues of renewable energy.
Turnava said the country had an ambitious plan to connect submarine high-voltage electricity cables to the Black Sea coast of Georgia’s European coast.
According to Ed Butler, Georgia ranks third in the world after China and Venezuela in cryptocurrency mining. He even went to a BitFury factory where a representative asked what amount of bitcoin would be generated but said it was not public information.
The journalist was not even allowed to take photos. According to Ed Butler, although it was not clear what amount of bitcoin was being produced, official sources suggest that BitFury’s annual revenue is half a billion dollars.
According to a BBC journalist, David Chipashvili, a Green Energy spokesman, said in an interview with him that bitcoin production is “anchoring” the country’s electricity, which the journalist agrees:
David Chipashvili said in an interview:
“BFDC Georgia [BitFury] consumes 389.7 million kWh.
This is 4% of the country’s total consumption.
If you ask the ministries a very simple question which sector consumes [energy] Georgia has no such analysis.
Actually we don’t have and we don’t know how many bitcoin miners we have … I think more than 10% of total electricity consumption is spent on mining.
Most importantly, they consume much more energy than large industries, ”
Ed Butler also met with Valeri Vavilov, the Latvian chief of BitFury in Tbilisi, who asked about Bidzina Ivanishvili’s involvement in the cryptocurrency mining business, to which Vavilov responded that the former prime minister of Georgia had no stake.
However, as Ed Butler says, according to official public records.
BBC journalist Ed Butler says:
“Mr. Ivanishvili, the former prime minister and richest man, may not have a direct stake in BitFury.
A related investment fund has invested $ 10 million to start production in 2014″
He also spoke to economist Gocha Tutberidze, who is wondering why the company operates in a free trade zone, meaning that it does not pay for consumed electricity. He suspects the reason is the economic and financial interest of some government.
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