“Currently, the BitRiver data centers in Russia account for at least 50% of the mining market that utilizes APG. We are also seeing interest from major oil and gas companies in the country,” revealed Runets.
Several countries, including the USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, and Kazakhstan, are already using APG for mining. According to experts at BitRiver, Russia could utilize up to 10 billion cubic meters of APG per year for industrial mining purposes. Mining operations can effectively make use of excess electricity.
In a recent development, Deputy Minister of Finance Ivan Chebeskov proposed exporting cryptocurrency produced by Russian miners, similar to the export of hydrocarbon resources.
In November, it was reported that the Russian Ministry of Energy plans to significantly increase electricity tariffs for large mining centers in Siberia. This move comes as the region is already struggling to meet the electricity demands of other consumers, while the volume of industrial mining in the country has tripled within the past three years.