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Southeast Europe
July 6, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
tiple sources of revenues: the taxes charged to companies carrying out blockchain mining opera- tions, but also the price of the gas used by the Cuciurgan plant.
In signs of further interest in blockchain mining in the separatist republic, Chinese investors visited Transnistria in May to evaluate plans for develop- ing mining farms related to blockchain technol- ogy, deschide.md reported. Russian investors announced similar plans last September.
Transnistria receives gas from Russia but never pays for it. Tariffs paid by businesses and households in Transnistria are directed to the government’s budg- et, while Tiraspol leaves the bill for gas imports to be added to the massive arrears of Gazprom-controlled
Moldovagaz in Chisinau — in effect gas delivered by Gazprom is seen as a Russian subsidy for the sepa- ratists. This allows the Transnistrian authorities to charge a very low price for the gas delivered.
This is good for bitcoin miners, as the technology is energy-intensive. Cryptocurrency mining is a valida- tion of transactions by adding transaction records to Bitcoin's public ledger of past transactions or block- chain, rewarded in cryptocurrency. It might be profit- able in Transnistria due to the “very low” electricity price in the region, deschide.md commented.
It will also provide Transnistria with an alternative market for its electricity, should Moldova decide to switch to alternative suppliers in an attempt to turn the screws on the rebel government.