Authorities make disturbing discovery after raiding hundreds of homes driving up utility bills: 'Posing a direct threat to public safety'
Kuwaiti authorities have begun to crack down on unauthorized crypto mining, and a recent raid in the southern Al-Wafrah region led to a 55% drop in local power use within a week, according to Reuters. The enforcement efforts come as the oil-rich nation faces mounting blackouts and extreme pressure on its electrical grid.
While crypto trading itself is banned in Kuwait, mining has not been explicitly outlawed, per the report. This is a loophole that miners exploited. Officials say they raided nearly 100 homes under suspicion of mining crypto, and some were using more than 20 times the energy of a typical Kuwaiti household.
The country's worsening energy crisis is driven by rapid population growth, rising temperatures, and delayed maintenance at power plants, per Reuters. With summer heat spiking demand for cooling systems, authorities say crypto mining is pushing the grid to its limits.
"It only takes a very small share of the total bitcoin mining network to have a significant impact on the relatively small total electricity consumption of Kuwait," Digiconomist founder Alex de Vries-Gai told Reuters.
Kuwait's interior ministry said crypto mining constitutes an "unlawful exploitation of electrical power" that "may cause outages affecting residential, commercial and service areas, posing a direct threat to public safety."
The environmental cost of crypto can also be steep. A single Bitcoin transaction uses more than 1,189 kilowatt-hours of electricity — about as much as the average U.S. household in 41 days, according to Digiconomist. Globally, over 65% of crypto mining runs on dirty fuels, according to U.N. researchers.
While cleaner sources may make up more of the energy mix since the time of the 2023 report, it is clear that crypto is adding significant volumes of heat-trapping pollution into the atmosphere and worsening air quality as a result.
Even when power comes from renewables, the grid can experience strain if there's not enough generated to support energy-intensive operations. Because of this, some companies are focused on developing cryptocurrencies that require less power.
Online internet users supported the crackdown in Kuwait. "Finally — a sane decision," one Reddit commenter wrote.
Do you think America has a plastic waste problem?
Definitely
Only in some areas
Not really
I'm not sure
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
White House says Trump will soon announce new nominee for NASA head
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump will soon announce a new candidate to serve as administrator of NASA, the White House said on Saturday, but did not explain why initial nominee Jared Isaacman was no longer in the running. Semafor, citing two people familiar with the matter, had earlier said the White House would pull Isaacman's candidacy. "It is essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump's America First agenda and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon," said White House spokeswoman Liz Huston.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
US court won't lift judge's block on Trump's government overhaul
US court won't lift judge's block on Trump's government overhaul May 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday refused to allow President Donald Trump's administration to carry out mass layoffs of federal workers and a restructuring of agencies, leaving a lower court order in place that blocked the sweeping government overhaul. The decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means that, for now, the Trump administration cannot proceed with plans to shed tens of thousands of federal jobs and shutter many government offices and programs. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco on May 22 blocked large-scale layoffs at about 20 federal agencies, agreeing with a group of unions, nonprofits and municipalities that the president may only restructure agencies when authorized by Congress. A 9th Circuit three-judge panel on Friday, in a 2-1 ruling, denied the Trump administration's bid to stay Illston's decision pending an appeal, which could take months to resolve. The administration will likely now ask the U.S. Supreme Court to pause the ruling. "The Trump administration will immediately fight back against this absurd order," the White House said in a statement. "A single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the Executive Branch." A coalition of plaintiffs praised the ruling: "The Ninth Circuit's decision today rightfully maintains the block on the Trump-Vance administration's unlawful, disruptive, and destructive reorganization of the federal government." The appeals court said the administration had not provided any evidence it would suffer an irreparable injury if the lower court order remained in place and said plaintiffs were likely to prevail. "The executive order at issue here far exceeds the president's supervisory powers under the Constitution," said the majority opinion from Judge William Fletcher, who was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton. He was joined by Judge Lucy Koh, who was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden. Judge Consuelo Callahan, who was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, dissented, saying the administration was likely to succeed on appeal and had suffered irreparable harm from having its policy blocked. Government Overhaul Illston's ruling was the broadest of its kind against the government overhaul that was spearheaded by Trump ally Elon Musk, the world's richest person and CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla TSLA.O. Along with blocking layoffs, Illston barred the Department of Government Efficiency from ordering job cuts or reorganization at federal agencies. Dozens of lawsuits have challenged DOGE's work on various grounds, including claims that it violated labor and privacy laws and exceeded its authority, with mixed results. Two judges had separately ordered the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of probationary employees, who are typically newer hires and were fired en masse in February, but appeals courts paused those rulings. Musk joined a farewell event in the Oval Office with Trump on Friday, marking the end of his active involvement with the administration. Trump in February also directed government agencies to work with DOGE to identify targets for mass layoffs as part of the administration's restructuring plans. The Republican president urged agencies to eliminate duplicative roles, unnecessary management layers and non-critical jobs, while automating routine tasks, closing regional offices and reducing the use of outside contractors. Most federal agencies have announced plans to lay off large numbers of workers, including 10,000 staffers at health agencies. In Friday's case, the unions and groups that sued said only Congress has the authority to create agencies, shape their missions and decide their funding levels, and that large-scale layoffs undermine that power. Illston, also an appointee of Clinton, had said in her ruling that the plaintiffs were likely to suffer a range of irreparable harms if the layoffs were implemented. She said, for example, that a U.S. Department of Labor office in Pittsburgh that researches health hazards facing mineworkers would lose all but one of its 222 employees. Illston gave similar examples at local offices of Head Start, which supports early learning, the Farm Service Agency and the Social Security Administration. (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi, Rod Nickel and Tom Hogue)
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
10 Ukrainian civilians killed in Russian air strikes, while Zelensky slams Russia for ‘not serious' peace talks
A barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks killed at least 10 civilians in Ukraine Saturday — including a 9-year-old girl — as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sowed new doubt whether Monday's peace talks in Istanbul will even take place. At least 32 people were injured in the attacks, as Russian troops launched more than 109 drones and five missiles across Ukraine overnight into Saturday, the country's air force said. The young girl was killed by a Russian strike on the frontline village of Dolynka in the Zaporizhzhia region — a 16-year-old boy was also injured, regional officials confirmed. Advertisement 5 Rescuers work to put out a blaze at the site of a Russian drone strike in the Odesa region. via REUTERS Moscow said Saturday it had gained control of a village in the Donetsk region and one in northern Sumy, leading to mandatory evacuations in 11 Ukrainian settlements near the Russian border – bringing the total number of Sumy settlements under evacuation orders to 213. 5 Ukrainian rescuers worked to extinguish a fire in a trolleybus depot following a drone strike in Kharkiv overnight. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Zelensky also warned this week that Moscow was amassing more than 50,000 troops nearby in a sign of a possible offensive. In the southern region of Odesa, the attacks hit the town of Izmail, Ukraine's biggest port on the Danube River — infrastructure critical for the war-torn country's imports. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian leader cast uncertainty Saturday whether the planned peace talks scheduled for Monday in Istanbul, Turkey will happen, saying Kyiv is now preparing for 'new diplomatic steps' with Europe and the US. 'There is no clear information about what the Russians are going to Istanbul with. We don't have it, Turkey doesn't have it, the United States doesn't have it, and other partners don't either,' Zelensky said on Telegram. Advertisement 'It doesn't look very serious,' he said of the talks. 5 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is still uncertain Ukraine will attend the talks Monday. Getty Images Zelensky also rebuked Russia for failing to turn over negotiating documents ahead of the Monday meeting – a nonstarter for Kyiv. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov unilaterally announced the talks Wednesday, saying Moscow would present a memorandum towards a cease-fire then. Advertisement But Zelensky countered that the Kremlin's plans should be offered up ahead of time — and accused Moscow of 'doing everything it can to ensure' the meeting is 'fruitless.' 5 Police officers carry a part of a Russian drone after the overnight air strike in Kharkiv. REUTERS 'For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,' he wrote on X Friday after hosting Turkey's foreign minister in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital city. Moscow had previously promised to present the document after last week's prisoner's exchange. Ukraine has sent its proposals to the US and Russia, which centers on 'a full and unconditional ceasefire.' 5 Growing increasingly impatient, President Trump gave Putin two weeks to prove he's serious about ending the war. POOL/AFP via Getty Images President Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and on Wednesday gave the Russian leader two weeks to prove he's serious about ending the war. Advertisement The Kremlin's sweeping demands, according to sources, remain unchanged from even before Putin launched his brutal invasion in 2022 — barring Ukraine, and any country east of it, from joining NATO as well as lifting Western sanctions on Russia. Delegations from the two countries last met in Istanbul on May 16 but the session yielded little other than an agreement for the war's largest prisoner swap.
