Russia’s energy ministry is seeking to introduce special electricity tariffs for cryptocurrency mining after industrial relocations from nearby China to the country.
Russia’s Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov announced Wednesday that authorities are working on a new framework to differentiate tariffs between general use and cryptocurrency mining, local news agency RBC reported. Report On wednesday
Schulginov said electricity should not be used in residential tariffs on Russian cryptocurrency mines, noting:
“We cannot allow miners to capitalize on the situation at the expense of low residential electricity tariffs […] In order to maintain the reliability and quality of power supply, we believe that miners need to be banned from using electricity in residential tariffs.
Amid a nationwide crackdown on cryptocurrencies, Chinese miners have fled the country, prompting allegations that some Russian territories have experienced explosive increases in energy use.
It is known that the Irkutsk region of Russia is located about 1,100 kilometers away from China See Its power utilization rate surpassed about 160% last year. Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev, pointing to the “iceberg-like increase” in the use of force in his jurisdiction, blamed the mining exit from China for exacerbating illegal crypto-mining activities.
One of the largest regions in Siberia, the Irkutsk region is rich in energy resources, with several large hydroelectric power plants, such as Irkutsk, East-Ilimsk and Bratsk. There are some crypto mining data centers in the region by Beatriver, the largest crypto mining collocation service provider in the country.
Related: Data center operators have no problem with the new Russian crypto crackdown
Igor Ranets, founder and CEO of Beatriver, told Quintelegraph that the company fully supports the latest initiative of the Ministry of Energy:
“It simply came to our notice then. Moreover, it will help miners enter the legal field, so the state can take the first step towards industrial control, which will ultimately lead to transparency of the entire industry.
Ranets said the company pays for its data center electricity at a business customer rate, “2.5 or 3 times more than an individual.”
Russia has become one of the top hubs of Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities since the Chinese mining capitalization. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Russian bitcoin miners account for 11% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution, which is only the best by Kazakhstan and the United States.
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