Cryptocurrency Warning from Vladimir Putin: A Timely Decision Must Be Made!

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned about cryptocurrency mining in the country in his statement on Wednesday.

Putin said cryptocurrency mining risks depleting the country's electricity supply and could lead to regional blackouts.

Russia hosts 4.6 percent of the monthly hash rate on the Bitcoin network. However, the Kremlin is wary of cryptocurrency mining.

Work on draft laws continues in the parliament to tightly control mining activities.

In his television broadcast on Wednesday, Putin stated that "Almost 1.5 percent of the total electricity consumption in the country is used by cryptocurrency mining."

“And that number continues to grow,” he said.

“What we need to pay attention to here, and what is worrying, is that uncontrolled electricity consumption for cryptocurrency mining could lead to electricity shortages in some regions,” he added.

Putin stated that three regions in Siberia experienced outages due to cryptocurrency mining.

Putin did not make any suggestions on how to solve this problem in Russia or say whether there would be restrictions on mining activities. However, he stated that a "timely decision" needed to be taken.

Russian lawmakers will next week discuss a bill on regulating cryptocurrencies in the country.

The bill stipulates that large-scale mining activities will be limited to approved companies only, and mining may be banned in certain regions if energy supply is suppressed.

Putin also stated that the introduction of the "digital ruble", the official digital currency backed by the country's central bank, should be accelerated.