Kazakhstan is introducing a surcharge on electricity used by cryptocurrency miners
2 min readCrypto miners in Kazakhstan will pay more than other consumers for the electricity they use to mine digital coins. The country’s president has signed a law that imposes an additional charge on energy used by energy-intensive industries.
Cryptocurrency miners in Kazakhstan will pay an extra fee per kilowatt hour of electricity
Cryptocurrency miners in Kazakhstan will pay a surcharge for the electricity they burn. This week, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a new law amending the legislation of the Central Asian Republic “on taxes and other mandatory payments to the budget.”
The bill, approved by the Senate in June, introduces a new fee of 1 Kazakh tenge (approximately $ 0.0023) per kilowatt hour used by cryptocurrency miners. The new electricity rate will be introduced from 1 January 2022.
Authorities in Nur-Sultan say the additional fee will “remove” crypto miners, who are currently operating in the gray economy, from the shadows. Albert Rau, a legislator appointed by the local media as the author of the bill, said he could not foresee any “critical consequences” from its adoption. Rau insists that parliament has approved the “government version” of the originally proposed changes.
The cryptocurrency sector fears that the new electricity rate will force Chinese miners to leave
Representatives of the cryptocurrency sector disagree with Rau’s position and warn that the move comes at a very inopportune time. Members of the Kazakh National Association of the Blockchain and Data Center Industry said the decision “will have a very negative impact on the investment attractiveness of the industry.”
The main concern is that the charge could force Chinese miners to look to other jurisdictions for action against cryptocurrency mining in the People’s Republic of China. Kazakhstan was considered one of the other potential mining targets, as the country has shown many affections with the cryptocurrency sector in recent years.
In May, Bit Mining in Shenzhen announced that it was planning to build a 100 MW mining data center in Kazakhstan in cooperation with two local companies. In June, as Chinese authorities stepped up pressure to end BTC’s mining operations, the company began supplying mining equipment there. Earlier this month, a Hangzhou-based mining hardware manufacturer Canaan established a after-sales service center in Kazakhstan as more Chinese miners consider relocating to Central Asia.
What impact do you think the new fee will have on the cryptocurrency sector in Kazakhstan?
