CNN
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In broad daylight, law enforcement officers raid a warehouse on the outskirts of the city of Sukhumi in Abkhazia, a Russia-backed breakaway Georgian region. No one’s there; no drugs or weapons either. Only a large cooling cabinet containing dozens of electronic devices.
This is a cryptocurrency mine.
A video of the raid was posted in December by the Abkhaz press service, one of many it has posted to YouTube since 2021. Crypto mining is banned in Abkhazia, yet for years this energy-intensive industry has flourished, attracted by the region’s cheap hydropower.
For Abkhazia, it comes at a…
