Russia Imposes Crypto Mining Bans to Address Winter Energy Shortages

Russian authorities announced plans on Tuesday to impose crypto mining bans in several regions this winter to address electricity shortages.

The restrictions will impact the Irkutsk region, parts of the Republic of Buryatia, the Zabaikalsky region in Siberia, and six regions in the North Caucasus, including Chechnya and Dagestan. The crypto mining bans will also extend to the occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

A government commission led by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak introduced the measures to curtail crypto mining during the heating season. Mining activities in Siberia will be suspended from December 1, 2024, to March 15, 2025, with annual restrictions in place from November 15 to March 15 through 2031. In the North Caucasus and occupied Ukrainian territories, the ban will be total, effective from December 2024 to March 2031, without any seasonal exemptions, according to the Kommersant business newspaper.

These measures follow new crypto mining laws signed by President Vladimir Putin on November 1, which regulate mining activities and establish experimental infrastructure for cross-border cryptocurrency payments. While domestic crypto payments remain prohibited, some lawmakers see these regulations as a tool to potentially circumvent international sanctions.

Russia, the world’s second-largest hub for cryptocurrency mining after the United States, consumes approximately 16 billion kilowatt-hours annually for mining, representing 1.5% of its total electricity use, according to the Energy Ministry. Alongside the U.S., China, Kazakhstan, and Canada, Russia remains a global leader in crypto mining. The new laws also introduced taxes on mining activities, with the government expecting to generate up to 200 billion roubles ($2 billion) annually in revenue.