President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev instructed the Ministry of Finance to “urgently” address the issue of regulating the activities of miners in the republic.
During a meeting with the Minister of Energy, the President noted the need for an urgent regulatory settlement of energy-intensive businesses to avoid electricity shortages.
Tokayev noted that officially registered companies will be able to continue mining cryptocurrency without obstacles. However, cheap electricity has attracted many “gray” miners and, according to the ministry’s estimates, they already consume about 1,200 MW. Uncontrolled consumption can lead to a lack of resources in the domestic energy market. In this situation, the President ordered to tighten control over energy consumption and speed up the identification of gray miners.
The massive migration of miners has made Kazakhstan one of the new Bitcoin mining centers, which accounts for approximately 18% of the world hashrate. However, along with the prosperity of the industry in the country, issues of increasing electricity consumption have arisen.
The Ministry has already made a proposal to create an official register of mining farms and restrictive standards for electricity consumption by such companies. From January 1 next year, the country will levy a tax on digital mining for the amount of energy consumed in the process of mining digital currency.
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