State actions against bitcoin mining in Kazakhstan have been gaining weight. This week, 55 farms that were operating illegally were torn apart, and 51 others were closed voluntarily. Close to 67,000 machines valued at 100,000 million Kazakhstan Tenge (193 million USD) were confiscated.
In 2021, China banned crypto mining on its land, making Kazakhstan, along with Russia, one of the best places for the industry. Great energy production, good Internet connection, and cold weather were the factors that thrived miners to move to this country.
Since the fall of 2021, the Asian country has been facing an energy crisis, so one of the actions taken by the State to deal with the situation is to shut down illegal crypto mining. According to an official statement released on Tuesday, the miners were illegally connected to power sources without the necessary permits and requirements to operate.
Other crimes committed by miners include tax evasion and smuggling. Furthermore, the government stated that some greenhouse companies illegally sold their surplus electricity to these operations.
Among those involved in illegal Bitcoin mining in Kazakhstan stands out commercial and political figures from the country. One of them is Alexander Klebanov, president of the Central Asian Electric Power Corp., which provides energy to more than 2 million people. Others include Bolat Nazarbayev, brother of the ex-president Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Kairat Itegmenov, 17th richest man of Kazakhstan according to Forbes.
These are not the first actions taken by the government to stop the growing increase in bitcoin mining in Kazakhstan. This February, 13 illegal mining operations were stopped since they added the energy consumption of 202 megawatts.
Small variations in the Hashrate
Following the dismantling of these farms, the Bitcoin hash rate fell from 209.9E on March 14 to 193.9E on the 15th, before reaching 202.6E again a day later, according to data from BitInfoCharts.
Still, neither the bitcoin price (USD 41,000 according to CoinMarketCap) nor the network hash rate has been affected by Kazakh government actions. However, if the government measures against illegal mining become more restrictive, miners coming from China will have to look for another “paradise” to settle in.
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