Bitcoin mining became the subject of an unexpected political clash in the Czech Republic. The prime minister accused his opposition, the Czech Pirate Party, of not doing anything useful in the information technology sector, other than Bitcoin mining.
According to the Czech publication "Economic Journal", Czech Pirate Party member Jakub Michalek questioned Prime Minister Andrej Babis about the government's progress in an electronic database for official documents.
The prime minister replied that the opposition has no right to ask questions on the matter since all they can do related to the IT sector is to talk about Bitcoin mining.
Pirate Party Babis said that "... we talked a lot about that, but we did nothing but mine Bitcoin. We hope that you (the party) get involved ... "
In response to the accusations, Michalek described the Prime Minister's strategy of "brainwashing". Although Babis' response brought some bitterness in relation to cryptocurrencies, the event may not be entirely negative for the industry.
Founded in 2009, the Czech Pirate Party is one of the youngest in the country. It occupies 22 of the 200 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and marches for transparency, the fight against corruption, electronic government and the protection of civil liberties.
Perhaps an association with cryptocurrencies is not really bad news after all. Babis' bitter comment referred to an indictment filed against a 28-year-old party member.
According to the indictment, the culprit was using the residence received as MP of a pirate party as a Bitcoin mining center. In reaction to these accusations, the party member said that his computers helped to heat the property.
On another recent occasion, the regional press reported that cryptocurrencies are changing the financial sector around the world. In fact, up to 1000 Czech electronic stores accept payments in cryptocurrencies today.
Prague, the Czech capital, hosted a Blockchain and Bitcoin conference earlier this year. The country has been courting cryptocurrencies for some years.
It is unknown if Czech pirates continue to extract Bitcoin on state property, and may not be important to the market itself. Having such an important cryptocurrency ambassador in the Czech Republic, on the other hand, is not at all despicable, even though the Prime Minister has thrown a negative light on the industry.