Canaan suspends Bitcoin mining in Kazakhstan

The company Canaan temporarily halted its Bitcoin mining capacity in Kazakhstan after the entry into force of mandatory licensing requirements.

According to заявлению, in July the firm shut down equipment with a total hashrate of 2 EH/s in the country. This is roughly half of Canaan’s aggregate capacity, with data centres located in the United States as well.

The company forecasts that the shutdown of equipment will last at least until the end of the third quarter. Canaan is actively pursuing a license, but this is linked to progress in a similar procedure for a local partner — an infrastructure provider.

The company also faced a breach of the hosting agreement by a US-based service provider. The partner refused to host 13,000 Bitcoin miners, returned some devices damaged and did not remit the $1.25 million deposit.

Canaan said it had been unable to reach an agreement and the company intends to file a claim in arbitration.

“The problems described since May are adversely affecting the company’s Bitcoin production and mining revenue, primarily due to decreased uptime,” the company said.

The manufacturer of miners under the Avalon Made brand began mining operations in Kazakhstan in June 2021. In 2022 the company expanded mining activity into the United States.

In October, Canaan introduced the latest generation of Avalon Made 13-series Bitcoin mining devices. In May 2023 the company released a version of the miner with immersion cooling.