Chinese Cryptocurrency Firm Sets Up Mining Operations In Kazakhstan

China’s BIT Mining Ltd - ADR BTCM announced the delivery of the first batch of its cryptocurrency mining machines to Kazakhstan.

What Happened: Last month, BIT Mining entered into a binding investment term sheet with an unnamed Kazakhstan-based company on a cryptocurrency mining data center in the Central Asian republic.

BIT Mining plans to invest $9.33 million to jointly construct and operate the new Kazakhstan Mining Data Center, which is expected to have a total power capacity of 100MW.

BIT Mining will hold an 80% equity interest in the Kazakhstan Mining Data Center and its local partner will hold the remaining 20%.

This first batch to be delivered consisted of 320 mining machines with a theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of 18.2 PH/s. The company expected the machines to be in operation by June 27.

A second and third batch, totaling 2,600 mining machines with a theoretical maximum total hash rate capacity of 102.3 PH/s, are expected to be delivered to Kazakhstan before July 1.

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Why It Happened: Although China became the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency mining location, accounting for 75% of the Bitcoin BTC/USD hash rate, last month the government reversed course on encouraging this pursuit by issuing a statement promising to "crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior, and resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field."

The Global Times, the daily newspaper of China’s Communist Party, reported that more than 90% of China's Bitcoin mining capacity is estimated to be shut down, with Chinese mining companies scrambling to relocate their operations into other countries.

Xianfeng Yang, CEO of BIT Mining, announced the new Kazakhstan operation by stating, “We believe our vision and early-mover advantage will enable us to be agile in responding to the globally evolving regulatory environment, which will ultimately contribute to our long-term growth.”

(Illustration by Mohammed Hassan / Pixabay.)