New project aims to bring global crypto miners to Russia

A major cryptocurrency and blockchain association in Russia launches a project to bring global crypto mining operations into the country amid China’s crypto mining raid.

The Russian Association for Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain (RACIB) has announced an initiative to relocate global computing resources for mining cryptocurrencies to the Russian Federation. A RACIB spokesman said more information on the project is expected at a later date.

To promote and implement the project, the RACIB works closely with Russian government agencies and state-owned companies and forms a number of joint working groups with local state structures.

One such group focuses on the “Eco-Mining” project to build mining farms and data centers that run on renewable electricity sources. In addition to Russia’s abundant nuclear and hydroelectric power, the consortium plans to build crypto mining operations based on green energy sources like wind turbines.

As part of the project, RACIB has worked with a number of overseas partners, including a consortium of some of the largest crypto mining-related companies in China. The announcement states that companies within the consortium control “more than 25% of the global hashrate of major cryptocurrencies”.

Russia is the fourth largest country in terms of electricity generation, generating more than 1,100 terawatt hours of energy per year, behind China, the United States and India, according to the energy-focused publication NS Energy. According to the announcement, by 2021, Russia will have built more than 1,100 megawatts of new power plants with wind farms in regions such as the Rostov Region, the Republic of Kalmykia, Adygea and the Stavropol Region.

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The new initiative represents another strategic opportunity for global crypto miners as Chinese miners leave the country as local authorities repeatedly crack down on mining activities. According to data from the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, China’s bitcoin hash rate slumped before the crackdown, falling from 75.5% in September 2019 to 46% in April 2021. Over the same period, the US hash rate has risen to almost 17%. . from 4%, while the hash rate of Russia and Kazakhstan rose to around 8%.

Russia is not the only country offering its energy capabilities to Chinese miners to become a major player in the industry. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez publicly invited Chinese cryptocurrency miners in June to consider setting up data centers in the city amid miners surrender in China.