Irkutsk Region Witnesses 26% Surge in Legal Crypto Mining as Authorities Crack Down on Underground Operations

Legal crypto mining activities in Russia‘s Irkutsk region have surged over the past year. According to government reports, energy consumption for these legal operations has risen by 26%, going from 674 MW to 850 MW. Konstantin Zaitsev, the Chairman of the Government of the Irkutsk Region, announced these statistics at the Russian Energy Week forum, according to newscryptocoin.

Zaitsev emphasized that the spike in legal mining is partly due to vigorous efforts to identify and penalize gray-market miners. Over the last year, energy workers found 1,968 addresses with illegal mining setups. Owners of these unauthorized mining farms received bills totaling 1.3 billion rubles for consuming 347 million kWh of electricity.

To maintain the energy surplus in the region, Zaitsev pointed out the need to build power plants with a total capacity of 1,225 MW. In 2022, the Irkutsk region generated 68.6 billion kWh of electricity but consumed only 64.4 billion kWh. This data underlines the region’s ability to sustain the growing legal crypto mining sector, provided additional energy infrastructures are put in place.

In a related case, an underground miner from Angarsk recently received a bill for 4.5 million rubles for unauthorized electricity consumption. This serves as another example of the government’s commitment to move crypto mining activities from the shadows into the legal light.

The region’s increase in legal mining and crackdown on illegal operations come at a crucial time. Starting from 2024, Russia plans to introduce increased tariffs for crypto miners. This move could either encourage more legal operations or push miners further into the gray market. For now, the Irkutsk region seems to be successfully steering its crypto mining sector towards legality and sustainability.