TL; DR Breakdown
- Bitcoin mining causes power grid issues in Kazakhstan
- Bitcoin mining hashrate is up in the country
- Mining companies are leaving South Kazakhstan
Besides trading digital assets, Bitcoin mining is another way to make huge profits in the crypto market. But the activity is not for the faint-hearted they need a lot of resources to pull it off and offer services to crypto traders. When China announced that digital assets mining had been banned in May, many people were hoping it was like the previous ban. This is because the country had tried at one point and failed as miners continued their activities. However, the miners moved their operations out of the country into other states, with Kazakhstan being a major welcoming party.
Kazakhstan’s Bitcoin mining hashrate skyrockets
With the way things are looking, Kazakhstan is feelingl the heat from presence of Bitcoin mining activities. According to a recent report, the government announced a cap on the amount of electricity they would expend and even had to seek auxiliary from its neighbor, Russia. Although, it has put Kazakhstan on the map as the country now boasts 18% of the entire Bitcoin hash rate worldwide.
Before now, Kazakhstan was only responsible for about 8% since the start of the year. Kazakhstan has cemented its place in the top three countries with Bitcoin mining presence, the U.S and Russia in first and third place at 35% and 11%, respectively. However, the statistics above do little justice to how far crypto and Bitcoin mining has overtaken Kazakhstan this year.
Mining companies are leaving South Kazakhstan
Since the previous report by the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Kazakhstan’s hash rate has climbed a further 43%. Although all things went quiet after miners shut down their rigs and leave China, things are taking shape with the figures returning to April’s position. Even if Kazakhstan’s hash rate remained unmoved during the period, it would now be around 28.2 TH/s instead of 19.7 TH/s.
Putting it into perspective, one mining rig belonging to Xive that had to go offline in South Kazakhstan would have made about 57,500 TH/s. According to a recent statement from Xive boss Didar Bekbau, the situation in the country is very real, and miners have started to source power elsewhere asides from the power grid.
After the statement, a video on Twitter to showed Xive packing up its Bitcoin mining equipment and leaving the area. One of the reasons this has happened is that miners are looking for cheap energy to carry out their activities. Kazakhstan hopes that crypto mining might increase the inflow of cash into its purses by $1.5 billion in five years. However, it notes that most of these crypto and Bitcoin mining companies are not licensed to operate.
