Bitcoin (BTC) mining hardware manufacturer Canaan Inc is expanding its footprint in Kazakhstan after signing new strategic partnerships with multiple crypto mining firms in the country. The Nasdaq-listed company announced Tuesday that it had deployed 10,300 AvalonMiner units in Kazakhstan as of Dec. 31, 2021, finalizing phase one of its deployment in the central Asian country. Canaan is partnering with local firms as part of its business expansion plans outside of China. However, the company declined to list any of its local partners. Although Canaan is based in Hangzhou, China, the company is eyeing expansion outside of its home country …

The cryptocurrency and blockchain industry experienced explosive growth in 2021, particularly in its decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) sectors. The year was also marked by continued price volatility, baffling behavior from China, a grand experiment in Central America, escalating institutional interest, and the rise of some faster smart-contract networks — all of which is reflected in this year’s list of industry “winners and losers.” Winners in 2021 Kazakhstan When China effectively banned Bitcoin (BTC) mining operations in May 2021, Kazakhstan rushed in to fill the vacuum, pitching displaced miners and others on its cheap and plentiful coal supply. …

Kazakhstan, the country behind one of the largest sources of Bitcoin mining hash power, has released the results of a pilot program for its digital tenge. According to a Wednesday report, the National Bank of Kazakhstan, or NBK, said it had confirmed the possibility of implementing a retail central bank digital currency, or CBDC, based on distributed ledger technology. In addition, the central bank tested how Kazakhstan’s citizens might use a digital tenge for offline payments as well as its programmability. In a series of hypothetical scenarios, the central bank tested how a CBDC could be used between second-tier banks …

Kazakhstan, one of the world’s largest countries in terms of Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash power, is continuing to explore a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC). The National Bank of Kazakhstan has completed a prototype of a digital tenge platform, governor Erbolat Dossayev announced, according to a report by local news agency Kazinform. The central bank is now preparing to publish preliminary results of digital currency testing and a pilot CBDC project on Dec. 15, Dossayev said. He noted that the pilot involved local financial companies and some international partners. Despite actively moving forward with CBDC testing, Kazakhstan is yet …

The exodus of Bitcoin miners from China into Kazakhstan has contributed to an energy crunch that the central Asian country’s president has proposed solving with nuclear energy. Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy has attributed the 8% increase in domestic electricity consumption throughout 2021 to Bitcoin miners. The country received at least 87,849 Bitcoin mining machines from Chinese companies so far this year following China’s crackdown on crypto mining, according to data from the Financial Times. The substantial increase in demand has led to a deficit in the domestic power supply and contributed to unreliable electricity services, according to the Kazakhstan Electricity …

It takes a lot of energy for miners to verify transactions and mint new blocks on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain. According to Statistica, one Bitcoin transaction consumes as much electricity as over 1 million VISA transactions. Moreover, the cryptocurrency's environmental burden increases even more if the energy used for mining stems from fossil fuels. But SAITech, a Eurasia-based Bitcoin mining operator with headquarters in Singapore, seeks to recycle the waste energy from mining for use in residential, agricultural, and industrial applications. The company is also undergoing a $228 million special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, merger with TradeUP Global Corp …

A haphazardly assembled online group of passionate people who formed a decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, and pooled a spectacular amount of Ether (ETH) for a noble cause came tantalizingly close to pulling off an incredible feat of collective action. While they fell short of reaching their main goal — securing the last privately owned print copy of the United States Constitution’s first edition in order to make it available to the public — the speed, scale and efficiency of the decentralized effort were profoundly impressive. The fact that the group’s objective was to preserve an artifact epitomizing the most …

During a meeting with representatives of the financial sector on Friday in Almaty, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of Kazakhstan, expressed his opinion on the current state of affairs of the country's cryptocurrency industry. The details of the speech were posted on the official website of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, and translated by Cointelegraph: Cryptocurrencies are an objective factor that cannot be simply ignored. It is necessary to clearly evaluate their potential to influence the current financial system. President Tokayev speaking at a conference | Source: Akorda.kz He then added: Therefore, work should be resumed on the formation of …

Now responsible for the second biggest contribution to the Bitcoin hashrate, Kazakhstan’s energy grid may be unprepared to handle the addition of many cryptocurrency miners from China and others looking to capitalize on low cost electricity. In a Nov. 10 report from Reuters, government officials in Kazakhstan estimate that unregistered crypto miners in the country could be consuming twice as much power as those registered to avoid paying taxes and other fees. Together, all crypto miners in the country could be using as much as 1.2 gigawatts, or roughly 8% of Kazakhstan's total power generation capacity. According to Murat Zhurebekov, …

According to new legislation passed by the upper house of the country's national parliament today, crypto businesses in Kazakhstan may soon be subjected to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, as reported by local news outlet Vlast. The new law extends the country's financial monitoring system to cover crypto service providers. The new legislation would also establish a legal institution of public officials. When a firm launches its cryptocurrency trading service or issues digital assets, it would have to notify the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry in Kazakhstan. The institution will be in charge of conducting a risk assessment, …

A report from the Data Center Industry & Blockchain Association of Kazakhstan, or NABDC, estimates that cryptocurrency mining could bring $1.5 billion in revenue for the country over the next five years. Currently, corporate digital currency mining activities generate about 98 billion tenge ($230M USD) per year in the country. Alan Dordzhiev, the president of the NABDC, issued the following statement as quoted by local news outlet kapital.kz: The figure of 98 billion tenge is just an economic effect from companies that are officially involved in mining. If we take into account the "gray" miners, then this figure can be …

Following sweeping crackdowns by China against Bitcoin mining activity, the United States has now emerged as the leading nation in terms of hash rate. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), Bitcoin (BTC) miners in the U.S. account for 35.4% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution. The CBECI data also shows Kazakhstan (18%) and Russia (11%) as the next major Bitcoin mining centers outside the United States. These three nations have gained significant market share in the wake of China’s crypto mining ban. Back in June, Cointelegraph reported that BTC.com, one of the largest Chinese …