Last year, electricity consumption by miners amounted to 5 billion kWh, while in 2021, miners in the country needed 9.3 billion kWh. Overall, Russia’s share of the global mining market has fallen to 4.6% from its 2021 peak, ACEC said. Previously, it had been steadily rising, with a 6% increase in 2019, 8% in 2020, and already 9% in 2021.
Recently, experts from the analytical company BitRiver calculated that by the end of the first half of 2023, Russia shows almost the same growth rate of cryptocurrency mining as the United States. There is also growing demand for mining services in Russia from China from 2023, the company said.
Meanwhile, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma’s Financial Markets Committee, said that cryptocurrency mining may become legal in Russia no earlier than 2024. The laws were going to be adopted earlier, but were postponed until the consideration of bills on administrative and criminal liability in the field of mining and cryptocurrencies. Miners may be forced to report their income to the tax authorities.. Refusal can carry sentences of up to four years in prison.