Russian government finds no grounds for mining ban expansion

Russia has no plans to impose further restrictions on cryptocurrency mining as it’s not currently facing power shortages, a government official ￰0￱ vast, energy-rich country, which is a major mining destination, has limited or completely banned the minting of digital coins in a number of regions experiencing electricity ￰1￱ government halts mining ban expansion Russia’s Ministry of Energy sees no grounds for introducing more bans on crypto mining, Andrei Maksimov, director of its Electric Power Development Department, revealed to the TASS news ￰2￱ said the federal government has not received new suggestions from local authorities for such measures, while noting the country’s energy system is now coping with the ￰3￱ quoted by the leading Russian business news outlet RBC, the high-ranking Minenergo representative explained: “There have been no such requests from ￰4￱ is ￰5￱ there are no shortages, then there are no ￰6￱ energy system is generally functioning well.” His statement is positive news for Russian mining companies, which have been dogged by the threat of having to move around the country in search of places where their presence is not unwanted.

Russia’s crypto mining industry has been growing, especially after it was recognized as an industrial activity and legalized last ￰7￱ the concentration of miners in certain territories with low electricity rates caused problems with energy supply for other ￰8￱ prompted local officials to seek Moscow’s approval for partial or full prohibition of mining ￰9￱ imposed seasonal restrictions were eventually upgraded to year-round bans in some ￰10￱ restrictions remain in place across multiple regions Earlier this year, mining in several regions facing energy shortages was prohibited until the spring of ￰11￱ include the Russian republics in the North Caucasus as well as the occupied parts of the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and ￰12￱ in the Republic of Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai are in effect only during the cold winter months, when heating requires a lot of energy.

A similar regime in the southern part of Irkutsk Oblast was made permanent at the request of the governor of the Siberian ￰13￱ governments of the republics of Buryatia, Khakassia, Karelia, as well as the Zabaykalsky Krai and Penza Oblast, asked for the ￰14￱ June, a federal government commission refused to ban mining activities in Khakassia, citing a lack of adequate forecasts for the expected power deficits as well as decreasing distribution and tax ￰15￱ and Penza withdrew their requests at the meeting in Moscow, while decisions regarding the situation in Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai were ￰16￱ ministry hopes for alternative solutions Deputy Minister of Energy Yevgeny Grabchak stated that the department favors a more targeted approach that would help avoid banning cryptocurrency mining in some ￰17￱ ministry expects certain amendments to existing mining regulations to be adopted by the end of the year, which would provide alternative solutions to the current restrictive ￰18￱ July, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak instructed the energy ministry to finalize proposals to create a new category of electricity consumers of lesser importance for crypto ￰19￱ will allow Russian authorities to disconnect Bitcoin farms from the power grid during hours of peak ￰20￱ recognizing Russia’s competitive advantages in the field of digital currency mining, Russian President Vladimir Putin justified the restrictions introduced in some corners of his country, stating during an economic forum in July: “We were happy we had electricity surpluses in some ￰21￱ they began mining there and we had to make certain decisions.” His aide, Nikolai Patrushev, also noted the problem, highlighting as an example the electricity deficit registered in the Far Eastern Siberian Federal District, which reached 1.2 GW.

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