The share of miners in the structure of energy consumption of the Russian Federation exceeded 2%

Mining accounts for more than 2% of the total electricity consumed in Russia, whichindicates the need to regulate this market. This statement was made by Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Vasily Shpak, writes «Interfax».

According to him, cryptocurrency mining consumes more energy than agriculture. 

“In this sense, we cannot help but recognize mining as an industrial activity or industry,” the official said.

Shpak proposed to regulate this sector in order to make it transparent for the state and protect miners from potential risks.

“Our position is absolutely clear: mining must be recognized, regulated and integrated into industrial activity,” added the deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Recall that this week the State Duma registered an updated draft law “On Mining in the Russian Federation”. The previous document has been withdrawn.

Provisions regarding the register of mining participants and “amnesty” for the latter were excluded from the new bill. 

According to the Cambridge Center for AlternativeFinance, in mid-May, Russia moved to fifth place in terms of the share in the bitcoin hashrate with an indicator of 4.7%. It was overtaken by the USA (37.8%), China (21.1%), Kazakhstan (13.2%) and Canada (6.5%).