Angola Crypto Mining Ban as of April 2024: What Happened and Why It Matters
Angola Power Consumption Calculator
How Mining Impacted Angola's Electricity
This calculator helps visualize the electricity consumption of Bitcoin mining operations versus the needs of Angola's population, based on data from the April 2024 mining ban.
Before April 2024, Angola was one of the biggest Bitcoin mining countries in Africa - maybe even the biggest. Factories full of humming machines, powered by cheap electricity, were churning out new coins around the clock. Then, out of nowhere, the government shut it all down. Not with a warning. Not with a tax. With a full ban. And not just a small one - this was a law that could land you in prison for up to 12 years.
What Exactly Did Angola Ban?
On April 10, 2024, Angola passed Law No. 3/24, a sweeping ban on all cryptocurrency mining activities. It didn’t just stop people from running mining rigs. It made it illegal to use any electrical system - even your home power - to mine Bitcoin or any other digital currency. The law also banned connecting any mining equipment to the national grid. That includes everything from single ASIC miners to giant warehouse-scale operations.
The law defines mining clearly: it’s the process of solving complex math problems to validate transactions and add them to the blockchain. That’s the core work that keeps Bitcoin running. And now, doing that inside Angola is a criminal act.
Even owning the equipment can get you jailed. If you have a mining rig sitting in your garage, warehouse, or basement after April 10, you could face one to five years in prison - and the government will seize everything. No exceptions. No gray areas.
Why Did Angola Do This?
The answer is simple: the lights were going out.
Angola has long struggled with unreliable electricity. Millions of people live in areas where power cuts are routine. Hospitals, schools, and small businesses can’t count on steady energy. But in late 2023, something strange happened. Angola jumped to the eighth-largest Bitcoin mining country in the world - ahead of most of Europe. And the reason? Chinese mining companies moved there after China banned crypto in 2021.
These operations didn’t just use electricity - they devoured it. Some mining farms were drawing as much power as small towns. Utility companies couldn’t keep up. Power plants were running flat out, and still, there wasn’t enough to go around. People were left in the dark for hours. Factories shut down. Refrigerators spoiled food. Children studied by candlelight.
The government didn’t see this as innovation. They saw it as theft - of a resource that should be used for people, not for profit.
The Crackdown: What Happened After the Ban?
The ban didn’t just sit on paper. Within months, the government moved.
In August 2024, Interpol teamed up with Angolan police in a massive operation. They raided 25 illegal mining facilities. Most were run by Chinese nationals - over 60 people were arrested. The seized equipment? More than $37 million worth. ASIC miners, cooling systems, power converters - all of it confiscated.
The government didn’t melt it down or sell it off. Instead, they announced plans to redistribute the equipment to public services. Schools, clinics, and community centers in underserved areas would get new generators, solar panels, and power backups. It wasn’t just punishment - it was restitution.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Angola had already warned its citizens: stop mining. The law is real. The penalties are real. And if you’re caught, you won’t get a second chance.
Who Got Hit the Hardest?
It wasn’t just foreign miners. Local entrepreneurs who invested in mining rigs - some with loans, some with savings - lost everything. A few had set up small operations in rural areas, thinking they could profit from cheap power and high coin prices. Now, their equipment is gone. Their money is gone. And some are facing criminal charges.
Even tech startups that were experimenting with blockchain for local payments got caught in the crossfire. While the law doesn’t ban owning Bitcoin or using crypto wallets, the fear of being accused of mining made banks and service providers nervous. Many froze accounts. Some shut down entirely.
Was the Law Flawed?
Yes - legally, it had problems.
Legal experts from CMS Law Firm pointed out a technical error in the law’s penalty section. The articles that define punishments for companies were misnumbered. That could create confusion in court. Judges might not know which penalty applies. It’s a small mistake, but in a law this strict, even a typo can cause chaos.
Also, the law doesn’t clearly define what counts as “mining.” Does running a node count? What about validating transactions on a personal wallet? These questions are still unanswered. That uncertainty makes it hard for people to know if they’re breaking the law - even if they’re trying to stay legal.
What About Other African Countries?
Angola didn’t act alone. Neighboring Zambia cracked down on fake crypto investment scams that tricked 65,000 people into losing $300 million. Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa are all tightening rules around crypto exchanges and advertising. But Angola is the only one so far to ban mining outright - and enforce it with prison time.
That’s why the world is watching. If Angola can shut down mining without collapsing its economy, other energy-strapped countries might follow. If it fails, it could become a cautionary tale.
What’s the Bigger Picture?
Angola’s ban isn’t about hating Bitcoin. It’s about survival.
Most countries that ban crypto do it because they fear losing control over money. Angola banned it because it couldn’t keep the lights on.
This is a new kind of crypto regulation - not ideological, not financial. It’s practical. It’s physical. It’s about who gets to use the power grid when the system is already stretched thin.
Before the ban, Angola mined more Bitcoin than Germany. After the ban, its share of the global network dropped to near zero. That’s a huge shift. But for millions of Angolans, it meant the difference between having electricity for cooking dinner - or not.
What’s Next?
Right now, the mining ban is holding. No new operations have surfaced. The seized equipment is being repurposed. The government hasn’t backed down.
But crypto doesn’t disappear just because a law says so. Underground mining could still be happening - hidden in basements, disguised as data centers, powered by stolen grid connections. The real test will be whether the government can keep monitoring and enforcing the ban over the long term.
For now, Angola’s message is clear: when your people are going without power, you don’t let machines take it.
Bruce Bynum
November 2, 2025 AT 01:37This is one of those rare moments where a government actually put people before profit.
Jeremy Jaramillo
November 2, 2025 AT 17:45I’ve seen this play out in places with weak grids. Power isn’t just convenience-it’s survival. When hospitals go dark because a mining farm is hogging the juice, there’s no moral high ground left to stand on.
Edgerton Trowbridge
November 4, 2025 AT 04:55The legal ambiguity in Law No. 3/24 is concerning. While the intent is morally defensible, the lack of precise definitions around what constitutes mining creates a chilling effect on legitimate blockchain innovation. Nodes, validators, and wallet services are not mining-but the law’s vagueness may force them into hiding out of fear. A more targeted approach could have preserved both energy security and technological progress.
Masechaba Setona
November 5, 2025 AT 05:20Of course they banned it. 🤡 What’s next? Banning solar panels because they’re ‘too efficient’? This is just the beginning of authoritarian crypto fear-mongering. They’ll come for your wallet next. 😏
naveen kumar
November 5, 2025 AT 20:23Angola didn’t ban mining because of power shortages. They banned it because they couldn’t tax it. The Chinese companies weren’t paying a dime. This isn’t about the people-it’s about control. The prison sentences? That’s not justice. That’s intimidation.
Wesley Grimm
November 6, 2025 AT 07:22Let’s be real. The $37M in seized equipment? Probably worth less than $5M now. ASICs depreciate fast. The real cost was the reputational damage to Angola’s tech image. This was a symbolic gesture dressed as policy. They didn’t solve energy poverty-they just made themselves look tough.
Mehak Sharma
November 6, 2025 AT 19:50Imagine your child studying by candlelight because a foreign corporation turned your grid into a Bitcoin factory. That’s not innovation. That’s exploitation dressed in crypto jargon. The law isn’t perfect, but the moral calculus is clear: people over profit. Electricity isn’t a commodity to be mined-it’s a right. And Angola finally remembered that.
Yes, some locals got crushed. Yes, the law has typos. But when the lights go out for a village while a warehouse hums 24/7, you don’t negotiate-you act. The government didn’t ban Bitcoin. They banned theft disguised as technology.
Other nations will watch. Will they follow? Maybe. But the real question isn’t whether Angola was right-it’s whether the rest of us have the courage to choose humanity over hype.
They didn’t destroy mining. They restored dignity.
mark Hayes
November 8, 2025 AT 14:07Man I get it. I really do. But still… imagine being a guy who bought a couple of miners with his life savings thinking he was building something cool. Now it’s all gone. No warning. No grace period. Just cops showing up with a warrant. That’s harsh.
Power crisis? Yeah. But maybe a tax or a cap? Not total annihilation.
Still… candlelight vs. ASICs? Hard to argue with the outcome.
Kymberley Sant
November 10, 2025 AT 04:12So angola banned mining but still lets people use crypto? That’s like banning ovens but letting you eat pizza. How does that even make sense? I’m so confused 😅
Matthew Affrunti
November 11, 2025 AT 12:44It’s not about Bitcoin. It’s about who gets to use the grid. When your country’s power infrastructure can barely handle hospitals and schools, letting massive energy hogs run unchecked isn’t entrepreneurship-it’s negligence. Angola made a brutal call, but it was a call made in the interest of its citizens. That’s leadership, even if it’s ugly.
Eliane Karp Toledo
November 13, 2025 AT 01:18Wait-so the Chinese miners were arrested, but the government just ‘redistributed’ their gear? You think those ‘solar panels’ are real? Nah. That’s just cover for the military to seize high-value tech and sell it on the black market. The whole thing’s a front. They didn’t care about the people. They just wanted the hardware.
And don’t tell me about ‘prison terms’-this was a power grab. The law was written by someone who doesn’t even know what a blockchain is. They saw dollar signs and called it ‘saving the grid’.
Next thing you know, they’ll ban USB drives because ‘they can store crypto wallets’.
Kaela Coren
November 14, 2025 AT 13:48Legal scholars have noted that the misnumbered penalty clauses in Law No. 3/24 create a non-trivial risk of prosecutorial overreach and judicial inconsistency. The absence of a clear definition for ‘mining’ further exacerbates due process concerns. While the policy outcome may be socially desirable, the legal framework is constitutionally vulnerable and potentially unenforceable under international human rights norms.
Nabil ben Salah Nasri
November 15, 2025 AT 01:40Angola’s move is a quiet revolution. Not because it’s about crypto-but because it’s about priorities. In a world obsessed with decentralization and digital wealth, here’s a nation that chose to centralize something far more essential: basic human dignity. The miners took power. The government gave it back. That’s not policy. That’s morality in action.
Let’s not pretend this was easy. But let’s also not pretend it wasn’t right.
alvin Bachtiar
November 16, 2025 AT 03:38Let’s not romanticize this. The government seized $37M in equipment… and then quietly auctioned off 70% of it to private contractors in Luanda. The ‘redistribution’? A PR stunt. The real winners? The generals who got the cooling units for their villas. The ‘people’? Still in the dark. This isn’t justice-it’s kleptocracy with a humanitarian veneer.
And the Chinese? They were just pawns. The real puppeteers were in the Ministry of Energy. This was never about power-it was about profit redistribution among the elite.
Josh Serum
November 16, 2025 AT 16:31Wow. So you’re telling me that a country with a 70% electricity deficit just… banned mining? And you’re celebrating? What’s next? Banning refrigerators because they use too much power? People need to stop glorifying authoritarianism because it ‘feels right’. This is tyranny dressed in eco-lingo.
Also, the law has a typo. That’s not a feature. It’s a disaster.
Sammy Krigs
November 17, 2025 AT 16:02so angola banned mining but still has internet?? how does that even work?? like if you cant mine bitcoin then how do you even use crypto?? i think they just want to stop people from using the grid for fun stuff but its all so confusing lol
DeeDee Kallam
November 18, 2025 AT 13:54i swear i knew this was fake like from the start like who even cares about angola?? and why are they always the ones doing these weird crypto bans?? like i bet they just hate foreigners and now they’re pretending it’s about power??
also i think the whole thing is rigged like the government probably owns the mining rigs now and just says they seized them
so sad for the little guys who lost everything
Derek Hardman
November 19, 2025 AT 19:54The moral weight of this decision cannot be understated. When a nation chooses to protect its citizens’ access to basic utilities over the speculative gains of an unregulated global industry, it affirms a fundamental social contract. The technical flaws in the legislation are regrettable, but they do not negate the ethical imperative behind it. This is not anti-innovation. This is pro-humanity.