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Here’s what is going on this week in the mining industry:
- Kazakhstan is considering taxing crypto miners at a flat 15% rate in an effort to find new ways to fund infrastructure programs and offset the effect of COVID-19. According to Kazakhstan’s government report, 6% of global Bitcoin hashing power comes from the country.
- An paper published in the scientific journal Joule claims that Bitcoin mining accounts for 66% of total cryptocurrency mining, and that most estimates that take into account environmental impacts do not account for the remaining 34% of electricity usage by altcoin miners. The paper speculates on the climate impact of proof of work mining, which is a topic that has been studied and debated for some time. It’s worth noting that a large majority of Bitcoin mining utilizes renewable energy sources and this number will continue to increase as miners seek to increase efficiencies and lower their energy costs.
- Five Malaysian cryptocurrency miners were caught siphoning electricity from state-run sources by directly tapping power cables and avoiding usage meters.
- The stocks of two publicly traded Bitcoin mining firms, Riot Blockchain and Marathon Patent Group, have outperformed Bitcoin over the course of the last 12 months. This comes at a time of renewed interest in cryptocurrencies.