As Kazakhstan Descends Into Chaos, Crypto Miners Are at a Loss

Last week, chaos engulfed Kazakhstan as protests in the south of the country over a spike in fuel prices resulted in police repression, the removal of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev from his role as head of the security council, and an internet shutdown. Russian-led troops acting under the orders of the CSTO, a military alliance of post-Soviet states, were deployed to the country. The shutdown’s impact on crypto mining was evident—the Bitcoin network temporarily lost 12 percent of its hashrate. Jaran Mellerud, an analyst at cryptocurrency insights company Arcane Research, estimates that the shutdown alone might have cost Kazakh miners $7.2 million. For many miners, that was just the latest in a series of unfortunate circumstances that had dogged their operations for months.

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