Refusal of “gingerbread”
Kazakh miners never recovered from the protests of early 2022, and new measures by the authorities have increased their outflow from the country that was once the most attractive to buy cryptocurrencies in the CIS. AMarkets told Gazeta.ru.
Mining rates have been drastically increased since the beginning of 2022. “The Kazakhstan government is understandable: miners won, but spent the received cryptocurrencies in other countries,” he said.
According to the crypto expert, another reason for this attitude of the authorities is the plans of the central bank to introduce the digital tenge. In this case, cryptocurrencies will be competitors and the regulator absolutely cannot allow it, Deev is sure.
Anton Bykov, a senior analyst at Esperio, told socialbites.ca that voluntary-mandatory “whitewashing” of the mining industry in Kazakhstan is in full swing.
“The government of Kazakhstan has set aside the “carrots” and mainly uses a stick, while raising taxes on cryptocurrency production and conducting raids to detect “gray” miners who threaten the stability of Kazakhstan’s energy system.”
– said the expert.
According to Kazakhstan’s financial monitoring agency, 51 mining farms have already been closed, and 55 have voluntarily dismantled the equipment and taken it to other countries. About 30 miners are officially registered in Kazakhstan.
Bykov said that the actions of the authorities are more like an attempt to consolidate the “white” miners and transfer to them the volumes of electricity released after the shutdown of the “gray” miners.
“If earlier the “gray” miners pulled the “electrical blanket” over themselves, now the state has redistributed its electricity resources in favor of legitimate companies,” he said.
BitRiver CEO Igor Runets told socialbites.ca that Kazakhstan lost second place in the world to Russia in terms of mining volumes this year.
The United States ranks first, followed by Russia, and Kazakhstan now closes the top three. According to him, miners still remain in Kazakhstan, but more and more market participants are “leaving wherever they can continue their operations”.
following the example of China
Artem Deev of AMarkets noted that most of the CIS countries are not ready to become a new platform in 2020, when systematic and large-scale work begins to ban cryptocurrencies and mining in China.
Many miners later chose Kazakhstan, which allowed China’s neighbor to become the second state in the world in terms of mining only after the United States within two years.
But now Commonwealth countries are more likely to follow the example of China and Kazakhstan by tightening conditions for miners, and not vice versa.
BitRiver head Igor Runets said that Kyrgyzstan has recently passed changes in local legislation aimed at raising the cost of electricity and other restrictions on digital currency mining.
“The problems with the development of the energy complex and energy shortages aggravated there. All this together has led to the transfer of existing mining capacities and new major projects to other jurisdictions,” he added.
Anton Bykov of Esperio noted that currently the most profitable countries in the world for cryptocurrency mining are the USA, Costa Rica, Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Russia’s turn
Artem Deev of AMarkets said that among the CIS countries at the moment, Russia is the most attractive for mining, where low electricity tariffs are still in effect.
“The key word here is yet. Of course, our government will consider raising mining rates, ”thought the expert.
He explained that although there are separate regions most suitable for the production of cryptocurrencies in the country, new measures can be taken. He cited the Irkutsk region as an example.
Igor Runets, head of BitRiver, also considers Russia the most promising state for mining in the CIS.
“The country has developed and we hope it will soon pass new rational and business-friendly laws on mining and circulation of digital currencies,” he said.
According to the expert, the existence of a large surplus of energy capacity has already created the most attractive conditions for the development of mining and other crypto projects.
Esperio analyst Anton Bykov suggested that miners take a closer look at Georgia as well. If you choose a place for mining only among the CIS countries, you may be most interested in Russia and Georgia,” he said. Bykov pointed out that the growth of the “energy footprint” of miners has been noticed in Russia.
“This is expressed in the growth of electricity consumption in Russia in the first four months of 2022 in the IPS of the East (this includes the Amur Region, Khabarovsk Territory, Jewish Autonomy of the Region, Primorsky Territory and Sakha Republic), Southern and Siberia,” said the expert.
To say with certainty whether this increase is precisely linked to the relocation of miners to Russia, and not to the growth of mining by the citizens of the country, will show an updated report from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF). With data on the share of mining by country.
nuances
The interviewed experts thought that only Russia itself, or rather, a possible decision of the authorities to tighten the mining conditions, could hinder the growth of Russia’s role in the crypto market.
Artem Deev of AMarkets explained that the announcement of the launch of the digital ruble in 2023 served as a signal for such a step.
“Therefore, tightening of legislation for the crypto market and miners in Russia can be expected by the end of 2022,” the expert said.
Esperio analyst Anton Bykov pointed out that a tightening trend has emerged in almost all CIS countries.
“However, this is not a uniform process. “While Kazakhstan and other countries in Central Asia tighten the rules faster due to electricity shortages, tightening is slow in Russia or Georgia,” he said.
The expert is confident that in a year or two, cryptocurrency mining regulation will be tightened throughout the post-Soviet space.
BitRiver CEO Igor Runets evaluated the innovations in Russian mining legislation more positively.
“We are seeing a significant influx of solvent mining investors into Russia and we believe our country has a chance to become a world leader in mining with the adoption of a new balanced regulation in this area.”
According to Deev’s estimation, if the decision to tighten legislation in Russia is taken, the miners’ Mecca will continue to be the United States, which ranks first in the world in terms of crypto mining.
“The rest of the countries indicate that they will follow suit after China, where the digital analogue of the national currency was introduced, while at the same time tightening the crypto legislation,” he said.
Source: Gazeta
