Kazakhstan in talks on $700m in cryptocurrency mining projects
Kazakhstan is in talks to attract investments worth 300 billion tenge ($714 million) into the cryptocurrency sector, Digital Development Minister Bagdat Mussin said on Wednesday.
Kazakhstan claims to account for 6 per cent of global cryptocurrency mining.
The country passed legal amendments in June clarifying the regulation and taxation of cryptocurrency mining that it hopes will boost its oil-dominated economy, which can offer relatively cheap electric power for the energy-hungry business.
“More than 80 billion tenge ($190 million) has been invested in the sector,” he said.
Kazakhstan boasts one of the largest cryptocurrency mining facilities in the world. Based in Ekibastuz, near the Russian border, the Ekibastuz facility can host up to 50,000 mining rigs, according to sales director Dmitriy Ivanov.
Assuming full capacity with Bitmain’s AntMiner S19 series or MicroBT’s WhatsMiner M30, that would represent mining power of about 5-6 EH/s – approximately 4 per cent of bitcoin’s current hashrate.
Enegix already operates two mining facilities but the Ekibastuz site is its largest – it will employ upwards of 160 people, including engineers, electricians and security personnel.
The facility would handle as much electricity as needed to power 180,000 U.S. homes.