The state of Kuwait issues a notice as 1, 000 sites are discovered improperly mining cryptocurrency.

After energy consumption data revealed that over 1, 000 places in the Gulf region may be running mine rigs, the Kuwait Ministry of Interior has issued a warning against crypto miners.

Since July 2023, the Capital and Markets Authority issued a circular outlawing all crypto action, including swaps and buying, in Kuwait, crypto miners has been prohibited.

The Ministry of Interior’s decision to restate this moratorium has been prompted by the discovery of unusual electrical usage, stating in an announcement that miners is” an unlicensed activity and a clear violation of the town’s law.”

Despite having one of the lowest electricity prices in the world, the government has highlighted many negative effects, making it seem as though some residents find the relatively low cost of energy to be too attractive.

According to the Ministry, “mining even causes power outages in residential, commercial, and service areas, in a way that threatens public health and destroys providing standard necessary service.”

The government department, which is in charge of policing and public security, also issued a warning to “violators” who should immediately change their positions and threaten legal action if they don’t.

The Ministry of Interior’s warning is a part of a joint effort with a number of other government departments, including the Ministry of Electricity, Water, and Renewable Energy, which has also been able to identify extremely high electricity usage in 100 homes in the Al-Wafra region.

The flagged homes consistently and abnormally high usage is displayed 24 hours a day, contrary to the fluctuating patterns that are found in homes, according to the Ministry’s spokesperson, Fatima Jawhar Hayat.

” In some cases, consumption exceeded 100 000 kilowatt-hours in March 2025—roughly 20 times the typical usage of neighboring homes,” she said.

Hayat continued to state that the Ministry will continue to monitor electricity consumption throughout Kuwait despite not being certain what has happened to the 100 homes that were identified.

Kuwait accounted for 0.04 percent of the total hashrate of Bitcoin in 2022, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, a year before its financial regulator imposed a ban on mining the cryptocurrency.

Since the 2023 ban, there is no conclusive evidence that the Kuwaiti public has continued to trade digital assets.

Retail investors lost about$ 40 million most recently as a result of a fraudulent token called Bitcoin Kuwait, which almost immediately dropped in value after it launched in January.

Dr. Safaa Zaman, a researcher on X, who raised the issue of Kuwait’s lack of enforcement of its crypto-currency ban and demanded legislation to strengthen the government’s position on the issue, filed a public complaint about this fraud.

She wrote,” Where is the oversight, where is the legislation, and where is the fraudster?”

edited by Stacy Elliott.