Russia and Belarus will introduce special tariffs for crypto miners – they are constantly increasing in the countries!

Russia and Belarus will take the necessary steps to ensure that cryptocurrency miners and ordinary energy users are in a different category of consumers. At the same time, they will limit their access to subsidized energy.

This could lead to the adoption of differentiated electricity rates for individuals or companies involved in cryptomining.

Russia sees growing interest in cryptocurrency mining

Those involved in BTC mining in Russia and Belarus are likely to pay more for electricity than ever before. The authorities in both countries are preparing changes that will lead to the introduction of special tariffs for this category of electricity consumers.

This topic was supported by the Russian Ministry of Energy. “Crypto miners should not pay the same price for electricity as ordinary households,” said Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov during Russian Energy Week.

The Minister said that electricity rates need to be differentiated. In his view, miners should not be able to benefit from preferential tariffs, as the current situation may continue to be used to the detriment of others.

The minister’s comments came after Irkutsk region governor Igor Kobzev complained illegal mining of cryptocurrencies. Their activity has significantly increased the load on the distribution network in the area, which can cause power outages.

The Irkutsk region is the region of Russia with the lowest electricity rates. In cities, the price is 1.23 rubles (less than $ 0.02) per kWh and 0.86 rubles (less than $ 0.01) in rural areas. According to the governor, energy consumption increased by almost 160% compared to last year.

Belarus will support, but it will harden

In neighboring Belarus, the Ministry of Energy has already classified cryptocurrency miners into a separate tariff category.

Belarus legalized mining with a presidential decree, which entered into force in March 2018. Earlier this year, however, the Belarusian president called on regulators to introduce more regular inspections cryptospace.

President Alexander Lukashenko has a rather positive attitude towards the mining of cryptocurrencies and even called on citizens to instead of picking strawberries on foreign farms they mined BTC at home. He also proposed to power crypto mining equipment from excess electricity from their new nuclear power plant.