Kazakhstan expects at least $ 1.5 billion in economic activity from cryptocurrency mining within 5 years

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A report by the Data Center Industry & Blockchain Association of Kazakhstan, or NABDC, estimates that cryptocurrency mining could bring in $ 1.5 billion in revenue for the country over the next five years. Currently, companies’ digital currency mining activities generate around 98 billion tenge ($ 230 million) per year in the country. Alan Dordzhiev, the chairman of NABDC, made the following statement, quoted by local media kapital.kz:

The 98 billion tenge figure is just an economic effect of the companies officially involved in mining. If we take into account the “gray” miners, then this figure can be safely multiplied by 2.

In context, “gray miners” refer to people who conduct their own cryptocurrency mining operations – often with contested legal status. The association called for greater regulation to combat illegal mining to avoid a possible power shortage. Miners in the gray zone consume around 500 MW of electricity in the country, according to Dordzhiev’s estimates. Earlier this month, Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry proposed a draft ordinance to place limits on the amount of electricity consumed by the crypto mining industry.

According to data from the University of Cambridge, Kazakhstan contributed 18.10% of the global Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash rate, the second in the world, after China began cracking down on mining activity. This places it just behind the 35.40% hash rate share for the United States and above the 11.23% for Russia. Based on figures from GlobalPetrolPrices, the average cost of electricity for commercial use in Kazakhstan is $ 0.054 per kWh, well below the global average of $ 0.124 per kWh, due to the country’s huge reserves of fossil fuels. .

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