According to a statement on his website, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev approved laws capping the amount of electricity used by local crypto miners.
Over the last several years, an influx of bitcoin miners—legal and otherwise—to the Central Asian nation has strained the power system, making it difficult for authorities to keep up with demand. The government is increasing mining rules while attempting to improve its overall ecology.
Kazakhstan will be limiting how much energy crypto miners can pull from the grid, according to a new law signed by its President @TokayevKZ. @egreechee reportshttps://t.co/BAo0Ju6GXP
— Bogdan Duman (@BogdanDuman) February 7, 2023
The new regulation limits mining’s energy use by allowing it only during surplus electricity on the national grid. Licensed operators can compete for the surplus by bidding on it. This limit will not apply to miners that use renewable energy sources, imported power, or who generate their electricity off the grid.
Legislation requires miners to get permits from the government and makes some modest changes to mining’s tax structure.
In addition, the government will approve a list of mining pools that businesses can use. Miners must sell their cryptocurrency to crypto exchanges registered with the Astana International Finance Center. By 2024, miners will have to sell 50% of their cryptocurrency to these markets, and by 2025, that number will rise to 75%.
In response to the FTX debacle, Kazakhstan is also considering imposing regulations on the trading of digital assets.
