After becoming the new destination for Bitcoin (BTC) miners, Kazakhstan announced a new law that increases the cost of electricity for those who carry out this activity on its territory. The new legislation will come into force from 1 January 2022.
President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, signed the law on taxes and other mandatory payments to the budget, this July 1, after being approved last June 23, by the Kazakh Parliament.
Some government spokesmen said the law sought to”get miners out of the shadows.”
But there are also detractors of the new legislation. One of them is the National Association of Blockchain Industry and Data Centers of Kazakhstan, who claim that it will have “a very negative impact” for future investments related to Bitcoin mining, a local media reported.
In that regard, the president of the association, Alan Dordzhiev said that the new miners arriving from China they are ” ashamed of this initiative.”
Among other things, the new standard provides for the introduction of an additional payment for the amount of 1 tenge equivalent to USD 0.0023, for every 1 kWh of electricity consumed by mining farms.
It is to remember that Kazakhstan produces more than double its energy demand, which becomes an advantage for Bitcoin miners. Currently in the Asian nation are consumed on average 5,089.75 kWh per inhabitant and a house of approximately 85 m2, pays 220,223 Tenge or what is equal to USD 0.52.
For his part, Kazakh deputy Albert Rau said that authorities saw no “critical consequence” of the adoption of the law.
The passage of the law occurs just when the chinese Bitcoin miners they are moving their operations to other countries. For several years the Asian giant has been intensifying its repression against the industry.
BIT Mining moves Kazakhstan
Among the movements of multiple companies looking for a new shelter to activate your operations, is the company BIT Mining, owner of the important mining pool BTC.com.
A few days ago, the company issued a statement, reported by CriptoNoticias, where they indicated that the first of three batches of mining equipment owned by you they have already been transferred to Kazakhstan.
In total, it would be 2,600 computers, which have a power of 102.3 petahashes per second (PH/s) hash rate. This first batch consisted of 320 units, which in total accumulate a power of 18.2 PH / s.