Kazakh Ministry of Energy on Monday reported that regulators have discovered 13 illegal cryptocurrency mining farms in Kazakhstan.
The ministry said the discovery was made within five days of inspections and the total energy consumption was estimated at 202 megawatts, MW.
“From probes conducted over the past five days, 13 mining farms with a total power consumption of 202 MW have been identified and stopped by mobile teams,” the ministry said in a statement.
The statement also said the authorized bodies were carrying out investigative and operational activities on the detection of the illegal cryptocurrency mining farms.
Electricity demand in Kazakhstan ballooned in 2021 on the back of the proliferation of cryptocurrency mining.
On February 8, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered his cabinet to audit the crypto currency mining industry.
According to Tokayev, the country was not against legal mining, but market participants must have licenses, receive electricity on adequate tariffs, declare their incomes, and pay taxes.
According to the latest University of Cambridge research, Kazakhstan as of August 2021 took second place with an 18.1 per cent share in terms of bitcoin mining in the world.
The first place was taken by the United States with 35.4 per cent the third by Russia with a share of 11.2 per cent.
Sputnik/NAN
