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Pakistan has become the latest country to explore block reward mining with excess electricity amid an economic crisis that has shrunken power demand in the South Asian nation.
The new initiative is being spearheaded by the recently formed Pakistan Crypto Council, whose mandate relates to making the country a digital asset hub. CEO Bilal Bin Saqib told Reuters that the government would also promote the development of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers with surplus power.
The location of the facilities will be based on the power availability in various regions. Currently, the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa leads in electricity production, most of which is sourced from hydropower stations.
Pakistan has been undergoing a disruption in its electricity sector in recent years. Since 2021, power prices have surged by over 150%, forcing many to explore alternatives to the national grid. Wind and solar energy have recorded usage spikes, and with them, the demand for power has dipped.
The result has been surplus electricity, which the government still has to pay for under long-term contracts with independent power producers.
It’s this power that the Pakistani government wants to channel to BTC block reward mining and AI data centers.
In his role as the head of the Pakistan Crypto Council, Saqib will spearhead the initiative. Since he took over the role, he has been advocating for the adoption of digital assets in South Asia’s second-most populous nation. Last month, he stated in an interview that Pakistan is ready to embrace blockchain and is “done sitting on the sidelines.”
Speaking about the latest mining push, Saqib noted that the country is home to up to 20 million digital asset owners.
“Pakistan is in the top 10 global crypto adopters despite it not being regularised,” he stated.
Pakistan isn’t the only nation exploring BTC mining with surplus energy, which proponents say is an overall positive for their countries. However, recent research published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists concluded that these claims are “short-sighted and ill-founded.” The researchers found that BTC mining offers short-term profits in the locality but “hinders critical investments in storage and grid infrastructure.”
South Korean gambling scam hid behind BTC mining façade
In South Korea, authorities have busted an illegal gambling scheme that had masqueraded as a BTC mining operation.
Police in the metropolitan city of Gwangju in Southwestern Korea raided the operation, believed to be housing unlicensed block reward miners, but unearthed a gaming room with over 50 gaming consoles. Local reports say the operation had transacted nearly $100,000.
The owner, only identified as Mr. A, was charged with violating the Game Industry Promotion Act. He allegedly charged the clients 50,000 won ($35) per hour to use the consoles.
“We will actively block illegal gaming centers from reopening or spreading even after being cracked down on,” police chief Jeong Gyeong-ho commented.
While the latest raid was not connected to ‘crypto,’ authorities around the world have announced dozens of busts in the past week involving digital assets.
On Friday, authorities in Hawaii issued an alert, warning residents against a rising wave of pig butchering ‘crypto’ scammers. Most of the scammers pose as online friends or romantic interests, before luring their victims to a sham investment involving digital assets.
In Israel, cybersecurity firm BrandShield published a new report revealing that websites that impersonate legitimate trading platforms or celebrities had recorded an 800% surge over the past year. The rapid advancements in AI, which has become cheaper and easier to use, has exacerbated the threat, BrandShield CEO, Yoav Keren, stated.
“This poses a serious threat, making it harder for users to tell what’s real and what’s fake,” he stated.
This rise in ‘crypto-related’ scams has led to a rise in public mistrust of digital assets, Keren added.
One of the most popular avenues for ‘crypto’ scammers is BTC ATMs, which offer enhanced anonymity to the fraudsters and little recourse for the victims. In 2023, victims in the United States alone lost $114 million via these ATMs, a number that has shot up as digital asset popularity spiked in the past two years.
American non-profit AARP, which focuses on retired persons, has submitted new legislation in the Rhode Island Senate that targets BTC ATMs. It requires the operators to issue extensive disclosures before any transaction, impose a daily limit and refund in cases of reported fraud.
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