Kazakhstan Investing Big in Crypto Mining

Although you might not expect it, Kazakhstan is a major player in the cryptocurrency world. Their latest move announced by the Kazakhstan Digital Development Minister, Bagdat Mussin, shows further commitment to maintaining their place near the top of the list of cryptocurrency mining nations. Mussin is in talks to attract a hefty investment worth over $700 million to expand the cryptocurrency mining sector in the region. While things are moving along quickly, the Central Asian nation is still looking for investment and aren’t yet over the line.

The aim is to attract 300 billion Kazakhstani tenges of investments to invest in the cryptocurrency mining field. While mining is a focus, we expect to see the nation create their own cryptocurrency exchange list in the coming years, as they seek to expand their reach in the sector.

Kazakhstan has revolutionized it’s workforce and has aimed to be part of the digitalization of almost all sectors of industry, with crypto being high up on the list of evolving industries. Askar Zhumagaliyev, the former Minister of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry stated that the government had decided that cryptocurrency mining is of great importance and has become a “part of our everyday lives”, having paid attention to what other major world-leading nations were doing.

It’s evident the government backs statements such as this, as Kazakhstan already has 14 cryptocurrency mining farms, attracting close to $200 million of investments in just a couple of years. These results are what have driven government officials to back further investment into mining endeavours.

But a mere $200 million wasn’t enough for Mussin, who wanted to more than triple that figure and revealed the government has begun the construction of four new mining farms. But how will they raise these kinds of funds? Well, the government acted quickly at the start of the year and attempted to boost profits from cryptocurrency mining ventures within the country by introducing plans to impose a flat 15% tax on the sector. The move was first introduced as a way for the economy to generate more profits during the start of the Coronavirus epidemic back in April.

The efforts from the nation’s crypto mining industry have been very fruitful, with Kazakhstan accounting for 6.90% of the world’s overall mining contributions – less than 1% behind their northern neighbours Russia. Boasting a hash rate of over 6% is very impressive. Of course, the unrivalled leader China is way out in front with 65% of the global hash rate. But Kazakhstan is quite capable of getting ahead of Russia, especially if they realize their ambitions of this new investment.

Interestingly, for those in the ambitious Kazakhstani cryptocurrency community, there is a kind of exodus among cryptocurrency miners in China, due to the ever-increasing cost of electricity bills. This may seem insignificant, but it’s driving miners out of China and looking to find new locations to mine. Kazakhstan borders China and offers considerably cheaper electricity, which serves to further boost the nation’s chances of snatching that a top 3 spot.