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Quebec’s potential as a Bitcoin-mining nirvana is starting to fizzle.

Earlier this week, Hydro-Quebec warned that there won’t be cheap power available for every company that wants to set shop in the province and suggested it may set a higher tariff for cryptocurrency miners. On Friday, the government — the utility’s owner — questioned the companies’ contribution to the province’s economy.

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“If you want to come settle here, plug in your servers and do Bitcoin mining, we’re not really interested,” Premier Philippe Couillard said at a conference in Montreal Friday. “There needs to be added value for our society; just having servers to do transaction mining and acquire new bitcoins, I don’t see the added value.”

Couillard said he’s more open to companies that would help create “a real eco-system or a real technological transformation centered on blockchain,” even if they use cryptocurrencies to finance their project.

Bloomberg.com