Crypto Mining In Kazakhstan Is Leading To Power Shortages

If you want to get your hands on cryptocurrency, there are essentially a couple of ways. You can trade with it, meaning you buy it on an exchange or sell a product and accept crypto as a form of payment, or you can mine for it. However, the problem with mining is that it is very energy intensive.

This means that if you’re trying to do it yourself at home, it might not necessarily be more cost-efficient. In fact, to demonstrate how much power crypto mining consumes, it appears that over in Kazakhstan, the country is experiencing power shortages in which according to The Financial Times, crypto mining is partly to blame.

The publication reports that local electrical grid operator KEGOC said that they will start rationing electricity for the country’s 50 registered miners after their usage reportedly involved an emergency shutdown mode at three power plants back in October. According to the government, they estimated that demand for electricity has jumped by 8% in 2021 so far, versus the 1-2% they might typically see.

This has also resulted in blackouts in six regions since October. According to officials, it has been suggested that the jump in demand for energy could be due to China’s crackdown on cryptocurrency, which forced mining firms to move their operations to other countries such as Kazakhstan where electricity is relatively inexpensive.

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: cryptocurrency