Kyrgyzstan has abundant water resources that could provide a boost to the country’s crypto-mining industry. However, miners currently have limited access to this potential power source.
Kyrgyzstan has over 2,000 long rivers, numerous lakes and reservoirs, and thousands of glaciers containing huge amounts of water. This vast water supply could allow for increased hydroelectric power generation to support crypto-mining operations.
However, the country still has to import electricity due to technical and regulatory hurdles. All mining farm owners also own small hydroelectric stations but only use a portion of the power themselves. The rest is sold to the state grid.
Currently, Kyrgyzstan has just one active crypto-mining farm. This farm buys electricity from Kazakhstan and pays fees to Kyrgyzstan for transmission.
In the past year, mining was heavily restricted by an energy sector state of emergency. However, the Kyrgyz president has approved new mining facilities to utilize excess hydropower capacity.
Running a mining farm in Kyrgyzstan is expensive given the imported electricity costs and high mining tariffs. However, crypto mining taxes have become an important revenue source for the government budget.
In summary, Kyrgyzstan’s extensive water resources could allow the growth of crypto mining using hydropower, but the industry is still constrained by a lack of access to this potential energy. Taxes on the current minimal mining operations already provide significant budget funds.
