According to the Digital Development Minister of Kazakhstan, Bagdat Mussin, the country is in negotiations regarding investments in its cryptocurrency mining sector amounting to 300 billion tenges ($714 million). Earlier in June, another Kazakh minister, while arguing against the ban on cryptocurrencies during a parliamentary discussion, had claimed that the country may get more than $700 million investment for its cryptocurrency mining farms over the next three years. While addressing a government meeting, Mussin said that the country has set up thirteen cryptocurrency mining farms and was working on four more to attract more investments, Reuters reported on Sept. 2. …

Taras Kulyk, Senior Vice President of Blockchain Business Development at Core Scientific, says that the countries competing to become leaders in the Blockchain space vary greatly in what they can offer to crypto miners. During an interview with Cointelegraph, Kulyk stated that global diversification of hashrate has been increasing as countries around the world vie for control of the crypto mining industry. Kulyk believes that China has been a desirable hub for crypto mining due to specific factors it enjoys, specifically the low cost of labor, access to units, and decreased cost of power during the rainy season, but he …

A proposal made by the government of Kazakhstan aims to impose a 15% flat-rate tax on crypto mining. The plan would use any funds accumulated through the tax to deal with the COVID-19 crisis in the country. According to Forbes, the Ministry of the Economy hopes to combat COVID-19 by funding countermeasures through the collection of such taxes. This represents a departure from the nation’s previous statements, which indicated a different stance from the country. Officials stated that approximately 6% of the world’s Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate comes from Kazakhstan. New electricity tariffs The report adds that the government is …

Over the course of the past few years, the cryptocurrency mining sector has started to gain a lot of mainstream financial traction. For example, market research firm Technavio recently released startling data claiming that the global mining hardware market is all set to grow by a whopping $2.8 billion between 2020 and 2024. This incredible surge was attributed to the rising popularity of mining pools, most of which are currently concentrated in China. Not only that, over the course of the past few months, companies like Btc.top have been seeking to redefine the concept of Bitcoin (BTC) acquisition, for example, …

The Chairman of Kazakhstan's anti-corruption service has called on the government to develop a national digital currency to fight corruption in the country. Alik Shpekbayev, chairman of Anti-corruption Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan, reportedly said that national digital currencies like China’s digital yuan should contribute to a more transparent financial system. The news was reported by local news agency Kazinform on July 21. National digital currency is expected to cut cash transactions According to the official, an implementation of the national digital currency should inevitably reduce transactions in cash, which is one of major tools for illicit activity like …

Kazakhstan is becoming an important destination for Bitcoin (BTC) miners seeking cheap electricity in the post-halving market driven by thinner margins. According to recent reports, the oil-rich Central Asian country expects the total amount of money invested in local crypto mining operations to double by the end of 2020 and attract $738 million over the next three years. Unlike other countries in Central Asia, the Kazakh government has de facto legalized crypto mining, which makes the market more attractive for both local and foreign players. So, could this vast semidesert land become the new go-to spot for BTC miners? From …

Kazakhstan officials revealed the nation’s digital currency development plan to experts from Russia and China at "2020 Astana Online Financial Day". According to the China Ministry of Commerce on July 1, Kazakhstan plans to double its digital currency mining investment by the end of this year, and continues to develop its central bank digital currency. According to the report, Kazakhstan's digital currency mining project attracted 82.6 million Tenge, which is about 20 million USD. The scale of this investment will increase by 80 million Tenge in 2020. Blockchain and CBDC a work in progress The development of blockchain technology gives …

The government of Kazakhstan has set a goal to attract $738 million from investments in cryptocurrency related mining activities over the next three years. According to the Astana Times on June 16, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, Askar Zhumagaliyev, revealed the plan in an address to the upper house of the Kazakh Parliament. Following in the footsteps of the United States and South Korea During the parliamentary session discussing a possible ban on the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies, Zhumagaliyev highlighted the progress of countries like the United States, Sweden, and South Korea in the field …

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is enabling citizens in five further countries to buy cryptocurrency using Visa debit and credit cards with their national fiat currencies. The new service, announced April 10, will extend card support for the Colombian peso, the South Korean won, the Kenyan shilling, the Kazakhstani tenge and Peru’s neuvo sol. At launch, a total of five cryptocurrencies are available for purchase: Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), XRP, Binance USD (BUSD) and Tether (USDT). A busy month Binance’s announcement — evidently a positive step for its international user base — follows shortly after the exchange was yesterday …

Recently, the cryptocurrency mining community has been shaken with rumors of Chinese miners leaving Iran — where crypto mining is authorized as an industrial activity — for Central Asia. The move has ostensibly been taken in an attempt to find a new safe haven amid the tensions between the United States and Iran, as well as rising oil and energy prices. Iran’s attraction for crypto mining operations lies in subsidized electricity rates — as of July, 0.7 cent per kilowatt-hour (kWh), — which had purportedly even prompted miners from mining centers such as China to relocate their operations to the …

Blockchain development firm Bitfury is set to partner with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on a project to conserve and increase Kazakhstan’s forestland. As the Astana Times reported on Jan. 14, the project aims to help the country to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 15% over the coming decade to meet its commitments in the 2016 Paris Agreement. Offsetting Bifury’s carbon footprint Bitfury and the UNDP are poised to sign an agreement later this month with the Kazakh Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources to create a forestland in the nation’s Pavlodar Region. The project will start …

Kazakhstan’s lawmakers won’t be taxing cryptocurrency mining until the mined crypto is exchanged for fiat money. According to a legislative analyst at a local blockchain association, cryptocurrency mining will not be treated as entrepreneurial activity but rather a “purely technological process,” local business publication Kursiv reports Dec. 4. Madi Saken, legislative analyst at the National Association for the Development of the Blockchain and the Industry of Data Centers of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NABDC), reportedly announced the news at a local blockchain event “Blockchain Day” on Dec. 4, news which Saken has confirmed in an email to Cointelegraph. Tax liabilities …