Kazakhstan: Kazakhstan continues its crackdown on illegal bitcoin mines

Kazakhstan is continuing its crackdown on illegal Bitcoin mines, and has shutt down over a dozen facilities amid power outages. Together, the Kazakh Ministry of Energy, the Committee for Nuclear and Energy Supervision, local police, and other state body representatives worked to identify the culprits, which turned out to be 13 illegal Bitcoin mines in the Karaganda, Pavlodar, Turkistan, and Akmola provinces.

According to reports, in the Karaganda region, the mining facilities were found to have a total capacity of 31 MW, while in the Pavlodar region, 22 MW of mining equipment was seized. Likewise, in the Turkistan region, the mining facilities were discovered to have 3.28 MW of capacity.

The group that discovered those responsible, namely the ‘mobile group,’ was praised by the government, and in a statement, it said that the hunt to identify other illegal mining will continue: “The work of the mobile group to identify and disconnect mining farms from the electrical networks will continue, and the authorized bodies are also carrying out operational and investigative measures on the identified mining farms.”

As reported by Baxtel, in recent years, Kazakhstan has become a hotspot for Bitcoin mining, with many companies arriving in their droves following China’s ban. However, the surge of demand has caused a significant strain on the country’s energy supplies and put pressure on the national grid.