Kazakhstan is a very attractive country for miners due to the lack of mining licenses and cheap electricity. However, the country may impose an electricity tax for miners.
At the moment, Kazakhstan is the fourth state in terms of the generated hash rate in the Bitcoin network. Recently, the number of miners in the country has increased – some Chinese companies are exporting their capacities to Kazakhstan. However, with the introduction of a new tax, the country will become less attractive for miners. The bill assumes that miners will pay a tax of 1 tenge for each kWh consumed.
If the bill is approved, the new tax will come into force on January 1, 2022. According to the Association of Data Centers and Blockchain Industry of Kazakhstan, about 3.3% of the country’s electricity is consumed by miners. For 2020, this amounts to approximately 3.5 billion kWh. If the electricity tax were in effect in 2020, miners would have paid an additional $ 8.2 million. Association President Alan Dorzhiev said:
“The introduction of an additional tax will affect the investment attractiveness of Kazakhstan. Investors assess regulatory risks and are likely to choose more reliable and stable jurisdictions. ”
Dorzhiev noted that recently the cost of electricity in Kazakhstan has been revised several times, and now electricity costs almost as in the United States or Iceland. At the same time, it is the cost of electricity that is the most important parameter for miners, because 95% of expenses are spent on energy payments.
“If a tax of 1 tenge per kilowatt is approved, then our investors can start looking for another country for mining,” said a representative of one of the mining firms.
The colleague was supported by the representative of another mining company Akzhol Berkaliev. According to him, such a tax will not help the development of the mining industry in Kazakhstan. Foreign investors may well choose Russia or another country to host cryptocurrency mining farms.
In May, it was reported that the Kazakh authorities were preparing rules to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges.
