Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed a law restricting energy use by cryptocurrency miners in the country.
The new law only allows licensed miners to use electricity from the national grid when there is a surplus of energy. Miners that use renewable energy, imported electricity or their own energy generation capacity that is not connected to the grid will not be subject to this cap. The legislation requires miners to obtain a license from the authorities and makes some minor adjustments to the industry's tax system.
The government will also approve a list of mining pools that companies can use, and will require miners to sell their mined cryptocurrencies to cryptocurrency exchanges registered in the country's special economic zone, the Astana International Financial Center. By 2024, miners must sell half of their cryptocurrencies to such exchanges, and by 2025 the proportion will reach 75%. (CoinDesk)