Law on limiting energy consumption by miners comes into force in Kazakhstan

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In the Republic of Kazakhstan on Tuesday, February 7, a law came into force tightening the rules for cryptocurrency miners. Most importantly, it places restrictions on access to electricity.

President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed the law“On digital assets in the Republic of Kazakhstan” on Monday, February 6. The new document allows miners to consume electricity only if there is a surplus in the national power grid. These surplus megawatts of capacity will be distributed among licensed electricity supply operators through special auctions. Miners will be forced to turn to these operators accordingly.

Kazakhstan is struggling to copeincreased demand for electricity and load on the network infrastructure. The demand, Republican officials say, comes from a huge influx of Bitcoin miners in recent years, including from China.

At the beginning of the year, the National Bank of Kazakhstanlaunched a pilot project to create a digital tenge. The country's authorities and regulators hope that the national digital currency will help the integration of banks and DeFi.