As reported by the local news agency Kazinform on February 4, the Kazakh authorities are examining the increase in the electricity tax for cryptocurrency miners from one tenge to five tenge (from 0.0023 to 0.012 dollars). Marat Sultangaziev, Kazakhstan's first deputy finance minister, also suggested requiring cryptocurrency miners to pay a monthly fee on equipment, whether or not they earn lockdown rewards or even turn on ASICs. The deputy minister compared the idea to a similar tax that casino operators pay on their machines. The day before, Bagdat Musin, Kazakhstan's minister of digital development, posted on his personal Facebook profile an attack on unregistered "gray" miners accusing them of consuming 1 gigawatt of the country's electricity. “The gray miners are severely damaging our energy system. The energy costs of illegal mining are now estimated to exceed 1 gigawatt, ”Musin wrote, urging those with knowledge of unrecorded mining operations to submit reports to his office. Current rules in Kazakhstan distinguish so-called "gray miners" from so-called "white miners". The white miners are the ones who have signed a new register at the digital development ministry. The ministry worked quickly to register miners throughout the end of 2021.
In line with this push for registration, Musin also advised unregistered gray cryptocurrency miners to re-enter the department's new regime. The news comes after the government cut cryptocurrency miners off electricity for most of January as the country faced widespread energy shortages and massive protests over rising fuel prices. As those protests raged, the government cut electricity across the country, triggering hashrate dips for all mining pools. While Internet access is back, energy remains scarce. Although previous reports said Kazakh energy authorities were planning to block miners' electricity only until the end of January, several miners in the country told The Block they were still waiting. Makhat Serikuly, mining consultant for Blockchain, told The Block: “We are back online, but electricity is still limited. We had a surplus, but now a deficit, so they are cutting the energy of the miners. " Kanat Amren, a Kazakh miner, agreed that the situation is dire. "You can't work without electricity, and for now, the white miners have had their electricity turned off," said Amren. While China cracked down on cryptocurrency mining in early 2021, neighboring Kazakhstan, with its cheap electricity, has welcomed a wave of miners. It quickly became the second largest source of Bitcoin hashrate, after the United States and ahead of Russia. However, with the situation in Kazakhstan less and less certain, miners are increasingly looking to relocate to the United States or Russia, as local miners pointed out to The Block.