Russian President Vladimir Putin is fed up with unregulated Bitcoin mining in Russia. He fears that a surge in mining activity could cause severe power outages.

Along with BRICS, Putin is calling for stricter regulations to keep Russia's power grid safe from these energy-hungry activities. He say:

“Uncontrolled increase in electricity consumption for cryptocurrency mining could lead to electricity shortages in certain areas.” 

According to the Russian Ministry of Energy, cryptocurrency mining consumes about 16 billion kilowatt hours per year. That is nearly 1.5% of the country's total electricity use. And guess? This number is only increasing.

The energy used for mining can cause major shortages, especially in places like Irkutsk, Buryatia and Zabaikalsky Krai. These areas are in trouble. Putin warned that:

“Without free capacity, if ‘chosen’ by mining farms, new businesses, residential areas, social facilities will face supply disruptions, power shortages .”

Low electricity prices in Russia make the country a magnet for miners. They bring in mobile mining equipment and set up shop, using a lot of energy.

Putin issued regulations on Bitcoin mining. This includes calculating taxes for these activities and setting tariff regulations. The aim is to control power consumption and prevent the grid from being overloaded. Putin said: 

“We have made serious progress in this area and I hope my colleagues will report on current results and future plans today.”

He also mentioned the Central Bank's pilot project from last year, the CBDC digital ruble test project. This project has the participation of 12 banks, 600 people and 22 businesses in 11 cities.

By July 1, they had made more than 27,000 transfers and 7,000 payments. The digital ruble platform worked well and now Putin wants to deploy it on a larger scale.

Putin ended his speech saying that Russia needed to act quickly. Without proper regulations, the country's power grid could face serious problems. He is calling for systemic decisions at the federal legislative level to directly address this issue.

Putin emphasized: "It is necessary to make correct and timely decisions here, including systemic ones, at the level of federal law."

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