2 years ago
Authorities successful Kazakhstan unopen down 13 amerciable crypto mines – overwhelmingly bitcoin – that unneurotic had energy capableness of 202 megawatts, and promised a continued crackdown connected the industry.
Facing terrible energy shortages implicit the past fewer months, Kazakhstan has been trying to way down improperly licensed mines successful bid to trim the load connected the nationalist grid. Legally operating mines were initially nether powerfulness rationing starting past September and yet had their powerfulness cut off by nationalist grid relation Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Co. (KEGOC) successful January.
Employees of the Committee for Nuclear and Energy Supervision and the Ministry of Energy, on with constabulary and different authorities assemblage representatives, had conducted inspections successful the past 5 days, according to a statement Monday from the vigor ministry.
Energy curate Magzum Myrzagaliev said successful November that amerciable mines devour an estimated 340MW of electricity, compared with 600MW that past went to ineligible operations. Miners had flocked to Kazakhstan starting past May, erstwhile Chinese authorities announced a crackdown connected the sector. By August, Kazakhstan accounted for 18% of computing powerfulness connected the Bitcoin network, 2nd lone to the U.S., according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index.
Among the biggest busts successful past week's cognition were 31.3MW successful the Karaganda province, 22MW successful Pavlodar, 3.28MW successful Turkistan, 1.03MW successful Akmola, and 1.03MW successful the Kostanay region. The government's enactment to place amerciable mines volition continue, according to the statement.
In summation to the outright shutdowns, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed that taxes connected crypto mining summation fivefold connected Feb. 8. BitFuFu and BIT Mining are among the notable companies arsenic miners large and tiny look to move operations overseas.
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Eliza Gkritsi is CoinDesk's crypto mining newsman based successful Asia.
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