- The Russian government will start mining bitcoins soon in east Siberia.
- State-sponsored crypto mining firm Bitriver will spearhead the development of the mining facility.
- The aggressive expansion of crypto mining may be due to sanctions from Western superpowers.
It’s official: the Russian government will become the second sovereign country in the world after El Salvador to dedicate a mining facility for mining bitcoin (BTC).
According to Russian media RBC, the Eastern European superpower is building a dedicated data processing center in the Buryatia, situated in the eastern portion of Siberia. Known for its highly frigid climate, Siberia will help provide cheaper operating costs for the mining operations.
The mining facility in Buryatia expects to maintain operations of up to 100 megawatts. Bitriver, a state-sponsored crypto mining firm, is spearheading this initiative.
Earlier this week, CNL also reported that Russian crypto mining firms have been aggressively growing their BTC mining operations since last year.
Financial sanctions from developed economies in the West may have spurred this expansion. As many are aware of, this is due to Russia’s prolonged military assault on its East European neighbor Ukraine.
In fact, Russian regular households are starting to operate their own BTC mining rigs. However, the country’s regulators have yet to come up with clear guidelines on bitcoin mining.
Russia is increasingly betting its future on cryptocurrency. Aside from expanding its bitcoin mining facilities, Russia is also enabling international trade for bitcoin and possibly other leading altcoins.
