Legal miners in Kazakhstan mined $37 million worth of cryptocurrency in six months
Date: 2024-11-22 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: IN WORLD
Licensing of mining activities has been introduced in Kazakhstan since the end of 2022. According to the new rules, cryptocurrency mining is only permitted through accredited national pools, and connection to the general power grid is only possible if there are excess resources.
Miners in the country are divided into two categories: owners of data centers (DPCs) that provide infrastructure, and those who rent space in DPCs using their own equipment.
As of November, the register of the Ministry of Digital Development includes 45 companies engaged in mining: 17 of them own DPCs, and 28 use rented capacities. Compared to last year, the total number of legal miners has increased by 7.1%. However, the number of data centers has decreased: from 30 in 2023 to 17 in 2024. Despite this, only 6.7% of companies report their mining volumes to the Bureau of National Statistics.
At the same time, the country continues to actively combat illegal mining. Law enforcement agencies strictly suppress the activities of "gray" miners, confiscating illegally obtained funds and passing court sentences. According to the Financial Monitoring Agency, 18 cases of illegal cryptocurrency mining worth $72.6 million have been identified since the beginning of the year. Of these, four cases are directly related to "gray" mining.
Since the beginning of the year, nine court decisions have been made in Kazakhstan on cases of illegal circulation of digital assets. At least four defendants received real prison terms from two to 3.5 years. By the end of September, authorities had seized more than $232 million in criminally obtained assets.
The fight against illegal mining in Kazakhstan underlines the government’s commitment to strictly regulating the cryptocurrency industry while maintaining transparency among legal market participants.
