Bitcoin mining and related energy issues have made it to the headlines for quite some time now. When China banned all crypto-related activities in the country in 2021, it cited the harmful environmental effects of Bitcoin mining as the primary motivation behind the ban. In a much smaller country, Kosovo, the government also banned all Bitcoin mining activities to deal with energy problems. However, the latest and the most important Bitcoin mining-related event took place in Kazakhstan. The country was a Bitcoin mining hotspot and was the second biggest contributor to Bitcoin hash rates. In a series of political turmoil and upheavals, the country’s sitting government resigned and chaos ensued. Suddenly thousands of Bitcoin miners in the country found themselves without work or any source of earning money to sustain themselves. Naturally, they started to migrate.
Amidst this chaos in Kazakhstan, Kosovo, and other countries, María Muñoz from the Spanish Ciudadanos is seeing a new opportunity. While Spain has also faced some political turmoil in the recent past, it is still far more stable than Kazakhstan, Iran, and other Bitcoin mining-heavy countries. According to Munro, the Spanish economy will greatly benefit from making use of this opportunity and turning the country into a cryptocurrency mining hotspot. She sent out letters to authorities and also posted on Twitter about the same. According to her, this is a great opportunity for Spain to be proactive and make the best of the opportunity that the Bitcoin market is offering.
