The president of Belarus Lukashenko wants the country to exploit abandoned industrial sites for crypto mining purposes.
Lukashenko expressed his point of view at the opening of the Petrikovsky mining and processing plant. He called the government to turn abandoned facilities into crypto mining hubs. Residents will have the possibility to get higher-paying jobs instead of leaving Belarus for better opportunities.
“We must understand, they are not waiting for us anywhere […] Build something based on electricity. After all, start mining cryptocurrencies or whatever it’s called. There is enough electricity in the country.”
Alexander Lukashenko
The country has plenty of electricity resources to power these types of projects. One of the most important resources Belarus possesses is its nuclear energy. The government has been investigating the benefits and risks that come from the crypto mining industry since February.
Belarus has legalized virtual currencies since December 2017 after the Decree on the Digital Economy was implemented. Residents can purchase, sell, or convert cryptocurrencies without being required to declare their transactions nor pay taxes.
As China’s government started shutting down mining facilities throughout its territory, these companies are moving their equipment out of the country. Kazakhstan has already been selected from the majority of these firms to relocate their activity. But maybe Belarus can become a safe haven for these firms.
The president of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has passed a new bill that will require crypto miners to pay an additional energy fee.
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev introduced an additional fee of 1 Kazakhstan tenge ($0.00233) per kilowatt-hour utilized by virtual currency miners. The law was approved last month and will, and it will take effect in January 2022.
“We are committed to protecting the environment and lowering our carbon footprint. We have been strategically expanding our operations overseas as part of our growth strategy. Following our investments in cryptocurrency mining data centers in Texas and Kazakhstan, we are accelerating our overseas development for alternative high-quality mining resources.
We believe our vision and early-mover advantage will enable us to be agile in responding to the globally evolving regulatory environment, which will ultimately contribute to our long-term growth.”
