Another Headache for Bitcoin Miners in Central Asia as Three Countries Hit With Blackouts
Three of the Central Asian countries — Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan — have been hit by a power blackout after Kazakhstan’s North-South power line was disconnected due to “emergency imbalances.”
However, Kazakhstan has blocked companies mining cryptoassets from Jan. 24 to Jan. 31, a spokeswoman for state-run grid operator KEGOC said, per Bloomberg.
Electricity supplies in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan were being restored Tuesday.
According to KEGOC, the problem began after a major power line that links southern Kazakhstan and its two neighbors to major power stations in northern Kazakhstan and the Russian network was disconnected, leaving millions of people without power.
“As a result of a major accident in the power grids of the Republic of Kazakhstan, there was a power outage in the (southern Kazakh) cities of Almaty, Shymkent, Taras, Turkestan (regions) and adjacent areas,” Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy ministry said, per Al Jazeera.
“The Uzbek power grid, which is connected to the Unified Power Grid, was damaged as a result of an accident that led to sudden changes in voltage and frequency on 530 lines from Kazakhstan,” it added.
While the blackouts have seemingly happened due to an accident, at least one crypto miner has reported that KEGOC aims to blame crypto miners.
"And again. KEGOC blame miners facepalm," said Didar Bekbau, Co-founder of crypto mining firm Xive Mining.
As reported, following China's clampdown on Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto mining back in 2021, some of the Chinese miners moved to Central Asian countries.
Kazakhstan welcomed Chinese miners with its cheap energy, and, as of August 2021, the country was the second-largest Bitcoin mining country in the world after the US, accounting for around 18% of
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