Kazakhstan allows crypto miners to use excess oil field gas for power generation

Kazakhstan just turned its environmental problem into a crypto mining pitch. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree on July 8 enabling oil producers to convert associated petroleum gas, the stuff that normally gets burned off at wellheads, into off-grid electricity specifically for powering crypto mining operations. The move tackles two problems at once: reducing the wasteful practice of gas flaring while giving miners access to cheap, stranded energy that would otherwise go up in smoke. From mining hub to cautionary tale, and back again When China abruptly banned crypto mining in 2021, miners scattered across the globe looking for cheap electricity and permissive regulations. Kazakhstan was one of the biggest beneficiaries, quickly absorbing a massive chunk of displaced hash rate and briefly becoming the world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining hub. Mining operations consumed about 8% of the country’s total electricity supplies at one point. The Kazakh government, facing energy shortages partly driven by the mining boom, introduced stricter energy regulations and imposed higher costs on miners. The predictable result: operations packed up and moved elsewhere, resulting in a ...