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True that. Residents of Abkhazia (breakaway Georgian province on the Black Sea coast) were recently left in the dark because of bitcoin mining.

https://www.rferl.org/a/bitcoin-blackouts-russian-cryptocurr...

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The Iranians too, I think.

[1] https://apnews.com/article/iran-media-social-media-bitcoin-c...

> Although Bitcoin mining strains the power grid, experts say it’s not the real reason behind Iran’s electricity outages and dangerous air pollution. The telecommunications ministry estimates that Bitcoin consumes less than 2% of Iran’s total energy production.

Yup, we totally trust government sources from Iran. It's usually decades of mismanagement + bitcoin + UH6 centrifuges used to create weapons grade uranium in their case.

I've lived in the Eastern block, used to do homework at candle light so the regime could export goods under market price and earn hard currency. It's from the same playbook.

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