The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin Mining in Kazakhstan w/ Didar Bekbau

You're listening to The Mining Pod. Subscribe to the newsletter, trusted by over 12,000 Bitcoiners: https://newsletter.blockspacemedia.com Want to mine Bitcoin? Check out the Blockspace Media store today! Welcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, Didar Bekbau, CEO of Xive, joins us to analyze Kazakhstan's Bitcoin mining industry. Following China's 2021 mining ban, Kazakhstan briefly captured 15-18% of global hashrate, making it the second largest mining hub in the world, before government restrictions devastated the sector. Didar explains how aging Soviet-era infrastructure couldn't handle the surge, triggering a power price tax hike that drove miners to Russia and the US. He also explores whether Kazakhstan's energy-rich landscape might someday welcome miners back with proper planning and infrastructure investment. # Notes: - Kazakhstan peaked at 18% of global hash rate (2021) - Mining capacity dropped from 1600MW to ~200-400MW - Electricity tax reached $0.05-0.06 per kWh - Russia became primary destination for fleeing miners - Many miners relocated equipment to US and Russia - Grid infrastructure dated from 1960s-1980s Soviet era Timestamps: 00:00 Start 02:02 Current Kazakhstan mining overview 04:19 Scope of hashrate 06:14 Why declining hashrate? 08:49 Tax structure 11:58 Reverting the tax structure 13:42 Effects of China mining ban 14:51 Where power generators mining? 17:14 Supply & demand imbalance 21:05 Future for mining in Kazakhstan? 23:59 GDM owning generation 25:07 Russia mining 27:34 Off grid mining in Kazakhstan 29:55 Ukraine war and natural gas 31:52 GDA, grid demand & government 33:12 Kazakhstan mining outlook 👉 Luxor, Leaders In Bitcoin Mining and Compute Power! Get game-changing mining results with Luxor Firmware. Boost hashrate, cut energy costs, protect your hardware, and maximize mining profits with LuxOS. Published twice weekly, "The Mining Pod" interviews the best builders and operators in the Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining landscape. Subscribe to get notifications when we publish interviews on Tuesday and a news show on Friday! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices