Foreign media: The fall of the ruble is good for Russian Bitcoin miners

While cryptocurrency prices have plummeted along with other assets, the global market crash has indirectly benefited Russia’s Bitcoin miners.
This is due to the rapid depreciation of the Russian ruble, which has fallen from 60 to 80 to the dollar in two weeks. In addition to being hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the ruble has been hit by a price war launched by Saudi Arabia, which has reduced the price of Russia's main import, oil, to its lowest level in three years.
As the ruble plummeted, Russia’s average electricity prices also fell. In Siberia, Russia’s main mining region, the average electricity price for local mining farms fell from 5 cents per megawatt-hour to 4 cents per hour. Meanwhile, while the price of Bitcoin itself has plummeted, it is still measured in dollars, making the bear market less painful for Russian mining farms. In other words, on Monday, when Bitcoin was trading at around $6,200, if you sold it in rubles, the price would be $6,200 times 80 rubles, rather than 60 rubles two weeks ago. So for the miners who run their dedicated computers at these mining farms, they have mitigated their revenue losses.
“Since the price of cryptocurrencies is pegged to the dollar, the fall in the ruble is good for miners,” said Alexander Shashkov, founder of Intelion Mining.
Igor Runets, CEO of the Bitriver mining facility in Bratsk, Russia, said he signed two new contracts with miners last week for a total of 24 megawatts of power per hour. All of the farm’s expenses are in rubles, so “Russia is consolidating its position in the mining market as the ruble falls,” Runets said. He also plans to use forward spread contracts to buy dollars at an agreed price in the future as a hedge against a possible rise in the ruble later. Runets said Bitriver is now in talks with a Russian bank to buy such contracts.
Zakhar Fedorov, business development manager at Cryptoreactor, another mining farm in Bratsk, said the dollar exchange rate does not affect electricity prices, and wages and other costs will not increase as quickly. However, his mining farm has not seen an influx of new customers from abroad. They do receive requests from foreign miners, but not more than usual. Due to the collapse of Bitcoin prices and the coronavirus outbreak, many people prefer cash in this situation.
It is reported that Russia's mining industry is mainly concentrated in Siberia. The region has low temperatures for most of the year, which provides natural cooling, and due to abundant hydroelectric power stations, electricity prices are cheaper than in other parts of the country.