Former Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s brother Bolat Nazarbayev was among 106 illegal cryptocurrency miners to halt operations in the government’s latest round of inspections, the Financial Monitoring Agency announced on Tuesday.
See related article: Kazakhstan busts 13 illegal Bitcoin mining farms amid power concerns
Fast facts
- Kairat Sharikpayev, former chief of natural gas pipeline operator QazaqGaz, was also associated with illegal cryptocurrency mining businesses, according to the agency.
- Among the illegal mining farms, 55 of them voluntarily ceased operations, while 51 were shut down by authorities.
- Some crypto miners were illegally connected to power sources, or evaded taxes and customs duties.
- Kazakhstan became the world’s second-largest Bitcoin producer last year after miners moved there en masse following China’s mining crackdowns, but unstable power supplies and government crackdowns are triggering a new migration wave.
- The financial authority said it seized over 67,000 pieces of mining equipment worth more than US$190 million.
See related article: Crypto mining’s Great Migration continues — out of Kazakhstan
(Updates to correct the name of the individual in first bullet point to Kairat Sharikpayev.)