Georgia will reportedly install electricity meters across Mestia to curb illegal crypto mining after officials blamed miners for grid strain and outages. Georgia will reportedly install electricity meters across villages and settlements in Mestia as part of a crackdown on illegal crypto mining that officials say is straining the region’s power grid. Vice Prime Minister Mamuka Mdinaradze said Monday that illegal mining had pushed Mestia’s electricity consumption to 133 million kilowatt-hours in 2025, more than 13 times the level of comparable municipalities, according to local outlet 1tv. Read more
Georgia’s central bank released stablecoin rules in March covering reserve backing, issuer documents and external auditor verification. Stablecoin issuer Tether and the government of Georgia plan to launch a stablecoin called “GELT” that would represent the Georgian lari under the country’s digital asset regulatory framework. On Monday, Tether said the stablecoin is expected to support cross-border commerce and digital payments in Georgia. The company said GELT's structure, rollout and regulatory implementation will be announced at a later stage. The plan builds on Georgia’s recent efforts to develop rules for digital assets and stablecoins, including a framework covering reserve management, redemption rights, issuer oversight and Anti-Money Laundering compliance. In March, the National Bank of Georgia said it had developed rules for the initial offering of “stable virtual assets,” including requirements for full reserve backing, offering documents and external auditor verification. Read more
A political action committee aligned with crypto interest groups reported spending more than $4 million in support of Democratic US House candidate Jasmine Clark in Georgia. The Protect Progress, a political action committee (PAC) affiliated with the cryptocurrency company-backed Fairshake PAC, has spent more than $4 million attempting to help secure a win for a Georgia state representative running for the US House of Representatives. On Tuesday, Georgia voters will decide on their candidate in the primary for the state’s 13th Congressional district, where state representative Jasmine Clark faces competition among Democrats. According to data from the Federal Election Commission, Clark has been the beneficiary of more than $4.2 million in spending on media by the Protect Progress PAC ahead of the primary, as crypto-aligned interest groups attempt to influence voters in key elections. Source: FEC Read more
Georgia explores putting its public registry on the Hedera blockchain and tokenizing real estate through blockchain-integrated government infrastructure. Georgia’s Ministry of Justice has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the public blockchain network Hedera, as it considers moving the country’s land registry onchain and tokenizing real estate. According to a Monday announcement from the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, the government signed an MoU with Hedera, a public blockchain with permissioned node operation. At a meeting between the Minister of Justice of Georgia, Paata Salia, and a representative of Hedera, the two parties discussed the potential integration of blockchain technology into public infrastructure. Georgian officials said they are considering transferring data from the National Agency of Public Registry to the blockchain network, hoping this “would ensure even greater protection of property rights, transparency and reliability of processes.” Read more
Bitget picks Georgia for the next step of its expansion in Eastern Europe, attracted by clear regulations, tax benefits and a growing crypto user base. Bitget has received regulatory approval from Georgia to operate as a digital asset exchange and custodial wallet provider within the Tbilisi Free Zone (TFZ). In a Thursday announcement, the company said its users in Georgia can now access Bitget’s full range of services, including spot trading, futures and copy trading, all within a fully compliant, locally regulated environment. Bitget has been expanding in Europe since the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) began taking effect in 2024. Read more