Kazakhstan has taken a toll on the bitcoin mining industry as an energy crisis prompted a series of protests and political instabilities last week. Russia has reportedly sent “peacekeeping forces” to the central Asian country as per the request of president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, a move that sparked revolt across the region. Besides higher gas prices, Kazakhstan’s current intermittent energy and internet access have led to instability in bitcoin mining operations there, hurting the broader Bitcoin network’s hash rate — an estimated 18%[1] of which was housed in the central Asian country as of July 2021.
Didar Bekbau, a co-founder of Kazakhstan-based bitcoin mining company Xive, explained in a Twitter thread[2] that despite a broader negative sentiment regarding the future of bitcoin mining in the country, the current situation should be temporary as he expects Kazakhstan to be a “mining harbor” in the long term.
“There is a huge potential for building new power generation [in Kazakhstan],” Bekbau said, adding that the prospect is good for both traditional and renewable energy sources. However, he highlighted that political stability and foreign capital are crucial to pushing the industry forward in the central Asian country.
Concerns have also been raised around the security of bitcoin mining farms as riots confront police forces in violent clashes, but Bekbau said that such conflicts have mostly taken place in the country’s south whereas mining is concentrated in the central and northern regions.
“It is quite a safe situation for mining locations and facilities,” Bekbau said.
According to the miner, the main issue for the mining industry in Kazakhstan is still internet access. After the protests ensued, Tokayev declared a nationwide state of emergency, cutting phone and internet access across the country, The Washington Post[3] reported. According to
