Bitcoin prices plunged in the aftermath of massive protests in Kazakhstan, the world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining area.
According to Reuters and others on the 6th (local time), massive anti-government protests in Kazakhstan once blocked Internet access and disrupted Bitcoin mining. It is estimated that about 15% of miners operating in Kazakhstan have stopped operating. Mining speed (hashrate) has fallen by more than 10%.
Bitcoin prices plunged more than 8% on the same day, falling below $43,000 the first time since September last year, as news of intensifying protests was reported after the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve (Fed), announced early in the afternoon of the 5th. It fell about 12% compared to this year’s starting price of $49,000.
According to Cambridge Alternative Financial Center (CCAF), Kazakhstan accounts for 18.1% of the global bitcoin mining market, ranking second in the world after the United States. In May last year, due to the Chinese authorities’ ban on mining, miners in China flocked to other areas with low electricity bills, emerging as a new bitcoin mining hub, which was hit hard by the protests.
There is also a possibility that a large number of Bitcoin miners will leave Kazakhstan. This is because the Kazakhstan government earlier announced additional taxation on Bitcoin miners from this year, and regulations on miners could be tightened as the protests were triggered by complaints about soaring energy source prices.
