Kazakhstan is mandating that cryptocurrency miners file regular status reports in a new ministerial order, as the Central Asian nation attempts to gain a stronger grip on the sector.
See related article: Ex-Kazakh president’s brother busted for illegal crypto mining
Fast facts
- Crypto miners must submit information including locations of mining facilities, IP addresses, power consumption volume, number of mining rigs, staff size and planned investments, according to the order dated April 29.
- New miners will have to report 30 days before starting operations, and existing miners are to provide authorities with quarterly status updates.
- Crypto miners shutting down also need to report to authorities.
- Kazakhstan became the world’s second-largest Bitcoin producer in 2021 after miners moved there en masse following China’s mining crackdowns, but an unstable power supply has made for an increasingly unstable mining environment in the Central Asian nation.
- Former Kazakhstan president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s brother Bolat Nazarbayev was among 106 illegal cryptocurrency miners to halt operations as the government raided illegal mining activities, the Financial Monitoring Agency said in March.
See related article: Crypto mining’s Great Migration continues — out of Kazakhstan