Building the largest mine in Leningrad Oblast? Russia is finally going to take action against miners from all over the world

According to Bitcoin, the Leningrad regional government of Russia said that the country's largest cryptocurrency mining center has been put into operation in the Leningrad region. The cryptocurrency mining center is located in the Levoberezhny Industrial Park and was officially established in the town of Kirishi in the Leningrad region on August 20. The local government said that the 20-megawatt mine is equipped with more than 3,000 mining equipment and covers an area of ​​about 4,000 square meters. The total investment in establishing the center is 500 million rubles (about 7.3 million US dollars).

Russia's largest mining center

Dmitry Yalov, Deputy Governor of Leningrad Oblast, once publicly stated:

The Leningrad region has created favorable conditions for the establishment of mining farms. One of the undeniable advantages is the region’s abundant electricity supply and relatively low electricity prices .

Alexei Korolyov, co-founder of the project, said:

This is by far the largest and only factory in Russia that provides a ‘full-cycle’ service, not only mining cryptocurrencies itself but also providing services to miners.

The official introduction mentions that anyone can place their equipment in the mining center or rent the computing power of the mine.

In addition to infrastructure, Russia is also preparing to introduce a regulatory bill on digital currency. Elina Sidorenko, an official from the Russian Digital Currency Risk Assessment Department, said in a media interview that after comprehensively evaluating the risks associated with digital currency, previous social comments, and the interests of enterprises and financial regulators, Russia will launch a new draft and clearly list the "rights, obligations and responsibilities of cryptocurrency participants."

Behind the frequent olive branches to miners: monetizing idle resources and benefiting the country's citizens

Data shows that as of the first half of 2018, the number of Russian crypto mining companies increased by 15% to 75,000, and the mining industry provided jobs for 350,000 Russians. It seems that a mining boom has swept Russia.

Some people believe that mining consumes a lot of electricity, resulting in serious waste of resources. Many regions have also issued relevant regulations to shut down or prohibit mining companies. In addition, affected by the current bear market, mining revenue is not enough to cover expenses, and the profit margin of mining farms is getting smaller and smaller. Mining farms are constantly closed due to policies, imbalance of income and expenditure, etc. Since the beginning of this year, Russia has frequently extended olive branches to miners. In terms of policy, Russia has offered miners favorable conditions such as tax exemption, immigration, and low electricity prices. Now it has established a large mine in Leningrad Oblast and is involved in mining. What is Russia's plan?

Leningrad Oblast of Russia is a large industrial area with vast land and sparse population. In addition to the hydroelectric power stations built on the Volkhov River, Svir River, Vuoksa River and Narva River in Leningrad Oblast, there are also the Kirishi State Local Power Station and the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, and the electricity resources are abundant.

Resource abundance is both an advantage and a sweet burden for Russia. Excess electricity resources are a major pain point in Russia. Sergei Repetyuk, director of the economic department of the Russian Institute of Economics and Natural Resources Patents, said in an interview with Bitcoin: "Even at peak times, Russia's unused electricity can reach up to 40%.

Experts have calculated that Russia's cumulative electricity capacity is estimated to be 236 GW. If 100 GW of wasted energy were used to power cryptocurrency mining projects, the Russian economy would generate an additional 1.7 trillion rubles ($30 billion) in revenue.

Taking advantage of the mining boom and its own resource advantages, Russia can bring miners and mining companies to its own country, which can not only realize idle resources, but also make money and solve the country's GDP and national employment problems. For Russia, why not do it?