40 Companies From China and EU Have Applied to Mine Bitcoin in Russia

Companies from China and the European Union have applied to start mining operations in Russia. The country already has “hundreds” of cryptocurrency mining factories but still has free energy capacity for foreign companies to set up mining farms.

Also read: Russia Promises Regulation Will Not Kill ICOs

40 Applications Received

The Russian Association of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (RACIB) has reportedly received 40 applications from companies and individuals from European Union countries and China to place mining equipment in Russia to mine bitcoin. This was conveyed to Ria Novosti by the association’s president Yuri Pripachkin last week.

The publication then quoted him saying:

In Russia, the number of such factories is already in the hundreds, and our country has energy resources that can be sold to miners effectively.

RACIB is an association formed in August this year to unite blockchain participants and owners, miners as well as investors of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). Its formation was announced by President Vladimir Putin’s adviser on Internet issues, Herman Klimenko.

New Market and the Need for Legislation

Pripachkin further commented on cryptocurrency mining in Russia:

In fact, this is a new market for energy companies, and it is important to prepare a legislative basis, and possible preferential taxation for such foreign investors.

According to the director of the association, Arseniy Shcheltsin, “the organization had formed a committee of participants in the mining market with the participation of the representatives of China and Slovakia, who are preparing proposals to increase the investment attractiveness of mining in Russia,” the news outlet wrote. “The recommendations will be forwarded to the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation.”

Pripachkin believes that “Russia has every chance of becoming the world capital of mining,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Surplus Electricity

According to the Ministry of Energy, the installed capacity of power plants in Russia as of December 31, 2016, totaled 244.1 GW, Ria Novosti noted. Meanwhile, the maximum load during that time was only 154.3 GW, indicating plentiful free capacity, Pripachkin explained, adding that:

When considering the current free capacity of Russian energy companies of about 100 GW, the attracted investments into the economy will be about 1.7 trillion rubles a year.

Shcheltsin told Tass last week that “in Russia, favorable prices for electricity” are responsible for such high interest mining, among other things. Overall, “it is about placing containers from several hundred miners with a capacity of 3 MW, which gives a daily yield of 0.5 BTC or approximately 200,000 rubles,” the news outlet reported him explaining.

Do you think these 40 companies will benefit from setting up mining operations in Russia? Let us know in the comments section below.

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