Kazakhstan considers tenfold rise in mining tax

The Ministry of National Economy of Kazakhstan proposed increasing the mining tax on cryptocurrencies tenfold. Local media, citing a statement by the minister, Alibek Kuantyrov, сообщают.

According to him, registered mining companies currently consume about 640 MW of electricity capacity, obtaining it directly from energy producers or unregulated energy-supply organisations.

Kuantyrov attributed this to the tariff’s attractiveness.

“In this regard, the ministry proposes considering the creation of a separate group of consumers of energy-producing organisations in order to establish higher tariffs for them than for other consumer groups,” he said.

In the slides presented by the head of the agency, it is proposed to raise the tax from 1 to 10 tenges (from $0.0023 to $0.023) per kWh.

Kazakhstan currently accounts for more than 18% of the world’s total crypto-mining capacity свыше 18% всех мировых мощностей.

Mining tax has been in effect in the country since 1 January 2022.

In early February, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev tasked to raise the tax rate on cryptocurrency mining and to identify all farms by 15 March.

For more details on how Kazakhstan is losing miners due to government policy, read ForkLog’s special report.

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