Kazakhstan in talks on $700 million in cryptocurrency mining projects

Kazakhstan is in talks to attract investments worth 300 billion tenge ($714 million) into the cryptocurrency sector, Digital Development Minister Bagdat Mussin said on Wednesday.

Kazakhstan claims to account for 6% of global cryptocurrency mining.

The country passed legal amendments in June clarifying the regulation and taxation of cryptocurrency mining that it hopes will boost its oil-dominated economy, which can offer relatively cheap electric power for the energy-hungry business.

Thirteen “mining farms” are already operating in the Central Asian nation and four are under construction, Mussin told a government meeting.

“More than 80 billion tenge ($190 million) has been invested in the sector,” he said.

“Today we have preliminary agreements on attracting investments worth 300 billion tenge.”

Kazakh laws allow the mining of asset-backed cryptocurrencies and prohibit work with unsecured ones such as Bitcoin.