Russia’s Ministry of Energy announces a ban on mining in some regions

What’s new? Deputy head of the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation Yevgeny Grabchak has said that mining will soon be banned in some regions at the state level due to the shortage of electricity. He explained that the current deficit areas are the Far East, as well as the southwestern part of Siberia and southern regions of Russia. The official added that the ministry will not be able to allocate large capacities to enterprises in these zones until 2030.

Material by TASS

What else is known? Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on regulating the circulation of digital currency, which will come into force on November 1.

Under the document, the government will have the authority to ban mining and participation in mining pools in specific regions and in certain territories. The Cabinet of Ministers will also be able to regulate the activities of operators of the mining infrastructure.

All federal executive authorities, as well as bodies conducting inquiries, preliminary investigations and operational searches, will be able to gain access to crypto wallet addresses in order to detect criminal activity. Previously, only Rosfinmonitoring had this right.

In turn, the maintenance of the register of miners is transferred from the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media to the Federal Taxation Service. Individuals may carry out cryptocurrency mining activities without inclusion in the register provided that energy consumption limits are observed. For sole proprietors and legal entities, inclusion in the register is mandatory. For violations, the Federal Taxation Service will be able to exclude miners from the register.

As for operators, they will not be able to provide infrastructure to companies and individuals who are not included in the register or have already been excluded from it for violations.

Back in early September, Putin named Russia one of the world leaders in the field of mining. At the time, he noted that the leadership was due to the availability of surplus energy capacity in Siberia.

At the same time, he added that “mining is good, but the construction of housing, industrial and social facilities, and the supply of electricity to the production facilities planned for construction are no less important, and maybe even more important”.

Later, Anatoly Seryshev, the Russian presidential envoy to the Siberian Federal District, said that it was necessary to introduce restrictions on mining in energy-deficient regions of Siberia.

According to him, the current consumed capacity and applications of miners for the purchase of energy in Siberia cumulatively exceed the capacity of Russia’s largest Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP.

In October, it became known that the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and the country’s largest miner BitRiver will start building data processing centers (DPCs) in the BRICS countries for energy-intensive computing in the field of AI. BitRiver currently has 21 data centers in Russia, with 10 more under construction.

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After the halving in April this year, many foreign miners also began to actively develop AI business, leasing capacity to AI startups. As a result of another halving, the reward for mining a block for the fourth time since the launch of the Bitcoin blockchain has been cut in half, leading to a drop in income for industry participants.