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UAE regulators sandwiched on farmland used to encrypt mines

by | Oct 1, 2025 | Crypto | 0 comments

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Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), the Agriculture Regulatory Agency (UAE) of the United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi, announced a ban on the use of agricultural land for cryptocurrency mining.

Violators face a fine of Dh100,000 ($27,229), according to Tuesday’s announcement, and ADAFSA will suspend municipal services, seize mining hardware and disconnect farmland from the grid.

Adafsa said the use of farmland to encrypt the mine conflict with the region’s “sustainability” policies and undermines existing land use regulations.

It said: “Such activities are not within the scope of permitted economic use as defined by the authorities and are not allowed on farmland.”

UAE, mining, bitcoin conditioning, bitcoin mining, environment, sustainability
Crypto mining requires a large amount of energy investment, which has led to a surge in energy generation in the United States and has invited global regulators to review. source: US Energy Information Management

Crypto mining and its environmental impact continue to debate, with critics saying mining has negative effects on ecology, while advocates point out that vertically integrated mining operations are a way to recover runoff energy and siphon waste.

Related: Bitcoin mining difficulty maps new ATH in centralized fear

Some studies show that crypto mining can help environmental efforts

Crypto mining, a highly competitive business with narrow profit margins, encourages miners to seek the cheapest energy to reduce variable expenses.

Energy in renewable forms, such as hydropower, geothermal or runoff energy in industrial processes, such as excessive energy burning from gas fields or drawing methane energy from waste, contributes more than 50% of the amount used to mine Bitcoin (BTC) in 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkvojawp688

In August 2024, researchers published a paper titled “Integrated Landfill Gas and Bitcoin Mining Framework” outlining how Proof of Work (POW) mining converts methane energy into available energy.

Researchers examined the Landfill Gas-to-Energy (LFGTE) system, which drips methane gas from landfill waste to electricity, isolating harmful greenhouse gases and keeping them away from the atmosphere.

UAE, mining, bitcoin conditioning, bitcoin mining, environment, sustainability
An illustration showing the energy flowing toward the available runoff methane gas. source: ScienceDirect

The findings echo earlier research papers, including “Bitcoin and Energy Transition: From Risk to Opportunity,” published in 2023, which argues that mining could reduce up to 8% of global emissions by 2030.

Still, critics are arguing that mining poses a risk to the ecology. U.S. lawmakers have made several attempts to enable the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to restrict mining activities through regulations.

Such regulations include provisions to reduce air, water and greenhouse gas emissions in existing U.S. regulations, as well as new regulations targeting noise pollution in mining facilities.

Magazine: Bitcoin mining industry ‘will die within 2 years’: BIT Digital CEO