Russia enforces winter bans on crypto miners in Buryatia and Transbaikal

Russia is reinstating a ban on cryptocurrency mining in two of its regions in Siberia, which will remain in place until the spring.

The restrictions are aimed at avoiding electricity shortages in the territories during times of peak consumption in the cold winter.

Russia shutting down crypto farms in Buryatia and Transbaikal

Russian authorities are reintroducing a mining ban in the Republic of Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai (Transbaikal) for the fall and winter periods.

The prohibition on the crypto-related activity comes into effect on November 15 and will be in force until March 15, 2026, Russian media reported.

The RIA Novosti news agency referred to a decree adopted by the federal government last December, according to which the restrictions in Buryatia apply to almost its entire territory – 19 municipalities and the urban district of the capital Ulan-Ude.

In the case of Zabaykalsky Krai, the temporary measures are being imposed in 14 municipal districts, the urban districts of Chita and the village of Aginskoye, as well as the closed administrative-territorial entity of Gorny.

Russia legalized the minting of digital coins in November 2024, but started restricting the energy-intensive industry shortly after, citing electricity deficits in parts of the country.

Low and often state-subsidized electricity rates have been the main reason for the high concentration of mining enterprises in some corners of the vast Russian Federation.

What started as a seasonal prohibition in many instances was eventually converted to a permanent ban for the next six years, until March 15, 2031.

The list of affected territories now features more than 10 regions, including the republics of the North Caucasus, such as Dagestan, North Ossetia, and Ingushetia, and the occupied parts of four Ukrainian oblasts – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson.

For now, the ban in Buryatia and Transbaikal remains partial. It will be enforced across their districts over the next three days. The same will repeat every winter, again until 2031.

That’s unless Moscow changes its mind and makes it permanent. In June, a government commission postponed its decision on proposals to do that.

Then, in September, the Russian Ministry of Energy saw no reason to expand the geographical coverage or the timeframe of current restrictions.

In October, Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeny Grabchak stated that the issue of introducing a year-round ban in Buryatia and Transbaikal was still under consideration.

Meanwhile, a seasonal ban in the adjacent Irkutsk Oblast, with which Buryatia and Transbaikal form a single territory for the purposes of power generation and distribution, was upgraded to a full prohibition on mining in the southern parts of the region, dubbed the mining capital of Russia.

Russian winters both a blessing and a curse for crypto mining

Russia and other countries in the post-Soviet space, like the republics in Central Asia, moved to legalize crypto mining in order to utilize their competitive advantages in terms of abundant and cheap energy resources and cool climatic conditions, which help the cooling of mining hardware.

However, the harsh winters in the region are also creating competition between cryptocurrency miners and other consumers due to the much higher energy needs in the cold months of the year, including for heating residential areas.

Citing similar concerns, alongside low water levels in reservoirs used for hydroelectric power plants, Kyrgyzstan announced earlier this week it’s shutting down all crypto farms in its territory to conserve power until the spring of 2026.

Its energy minister said in an interview that the country will rely on additional electricity supplies from neighboring Kazakhstan to maintain the stability of its energy system, as reported by Cryptopolitan.

Kazakhstan has more or less managed to cope with its own power deficits, caused by an influx of mining companies after a Chinese ban on the activity a few years ago, by imposing strict regulations and raising electricity rates for miners.

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