A report by the Kazakhstan Blockchain and Data Center Association, or NABDC, estimates that cryptocurrency mining could bring $ 1.5 billion in revenue to the country over the next five years. Currently, corporate digital currency mining activities generate some 98 billion tenge ($ 230 million) a year for the country. Alan Dordzhiev, President of the NABDC, made the following statement, quoted by local news outlet kapital.kz:
“The 98 billion tenge figure is just an economic effect of the companies officially engaged in mining. If we take the ‘gray’ miners into account, this figure can be multiplied by 2 for sure.”
In the context, “gray miners” refer to individuals who conduct their own cryptocurrency mining operations, often with controversial legal status. The association called for greater regulation to combat illegal mining and avoid a possible electricity shortage. Gray zone miners consume about 500 MW of electricity in the country, according to Dordzhiev estimates. Earlier this month, the Kazakh Department of Energy proposed a draft order to impose limits on the amount of electricity consumed by the cryptocurrency mining industry.
According to data from the University of Cambridge, Kazakhstan contributed 18.10% of the world’s Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash rate, the second-highest in the world, after China began cracking down on mining activity. This places it just behind the 35.40% of the US hash rate and above the 11.23% from Russia. According to figures from GlobalPetrolPrices, the average cost of electricity for commercial use in Kazakhstan is $ 0.054 per kWh, well below the world average of $ 0.124 per kWh, due to the country’s huge fossil fuel reserves.
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