Kazakhstan proposes power price hikes and taxes targeting crypto miners

According to the country's vice minister of energy, addressing the potential strain on Kazakhstan’s power grid from crypto miners “cannot be delayed any longer." Now responsible for the second-largest contribution to the Bitcoin hash rate, Kazakhstan’s energy grid may be unprepared to handle the addition of many cryptocurrency miners from China and others looking to capitalize on low-cost electricity.In a Wednesday report from Reuters, government officials in Kazakhstan estimate that unregistered crypto miners in the country could be consuming twice as much power as those registered to....

Authorized crypto mining businesses have already taken a third of their coin minting hardware out of Kazakhstan, according to the country’s mining association. The news comes amid electricity shortages and upcoming tax hikes that are turning miners away from the Central Asian nation. Bitcoin Miners Start Pulling Machines Out of Kazakhstan Companies, legally operating mining facilities in Kazakhstan, have already relocated around 30% of their mining equipment elsewhere. The President of the National Association of Blockchain and Data Center Industry of Kazakhstan Alan Dorjiyev told....

President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed into law a bill amending the country’s Tax Code to impose higher tax rates on crypto miners. The levy will depend on the amount and average price of electricity utilized in the extraction of digital currencies like bitcoin. Cryptocurrency Miners in Kazakhstan to Pay Higher Taxes President Tokayev of Kazakhstan has signed a new piece of legislation introducing changes to the nation’s law “On Taxes and Other Mandatory Payments to the Budget” and supplementary law enhancing the implementation of....

Crypto miners now bring more than $230 million into the economy of Kazakhstan each year and estimates show the figure could increase significantly in the future. The industry’s leading organization has projected that the government can collect more than $300 million in taxes over the next five years. Kazakhstan Makes Millions From Cryptocurrency Miners Kazakhstan’s growing coin minting industry has the potential to pour $1.5 billion into the nation’s economy in a five-year period, resulting in over $300 million in tax revenue, according to the National....

Crypto farms in Kazakhstan will remain unplugged until Feb. 7, as the local utility has extended power cuts for miners. The company points to ongoing difficulties with electricity supply as the main reason for the measure, which was supposed to expire at the end of January. Mining Facilities in Kazakhstan Still Shut Down Data centers authorized to mint digital currencies in Kazakhstan will not be able to operate at least until next Monday, Feb. 7, after the country’s power distribution company extended previously introduced supply restrictions for another week. ....