Laos’ ambition to become the “battery of Southeast Asia” has left the country awash with surplus electricity, but burdened by soaring debts from a decades-long dam-building spree.
Now, in a bid to turn this excess into economic gain, the government is embracing the energy-intensive business of cryptocurrency mining – drawing both international intrigue and local controversy.
The multibillion-dollar business of digital asset mining, which rewards participants with tokens such as bitcoin for solving complex blockchain puzzles, is notoriously energy hungry.
But Laos, having constructed dozens of hydropower projects across the Mekong River and its tributaries, finds itself with more power than it can sell.
Electricity accounted for 26 per cent of Laos’ total exports last year, according to government trade data. The country, landlocked and long among the region’s poorest, has marketed its cheap hydropower to energy-hungry Asian neighbours striving to meet climate targets.