A report from local media outlet Kommersant disclosed that mining digital assets in Russia could take a new turn in the near future, as officials in the country are exploring using waste natural gas for mining purposes.
According to the Kommersant report, the Russian central bank, along with other government agencies such as the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Digital Development, were in talks on September 7 about whether players in the oil and gas industry could use waste natural gas to power data centers that are focused on crypto mining.
Flared gas to power crypto
Despite the fact that the crypto mining sector in Russia is unregulated, no approval has been provided. Natural gas, on the other hand, would be used to power crypto mining, which is gas that is typically unprofitable to extract, especially because it is always flared during oil drills.
Because of their lack of productive energy usage, solar flares are a well-known green energy source.
Many crypto miners who left China have relocated to Russia, Kazakhstan, and the United States, putting the country among the world’s top producers of Bitcoin hash rates.
Excess capacity as ‘mining hotels’
Furthermore, pressure from oil business players may tighten the noose around the government’s neck.
The report also said industry participants suggested using flared gas for crypto mining, and “one of Russia’s top oil corporations would like to scale its cryptocurrency mining business.”
According to Alexander Zhuravlev, Chairman of the Moscow Branch of the Russian Bar Association’s Commission on Legal Support of the Digital Economy, Russia’s oilmen could use this to create data centers or provide their excess capacity as “mining hotels” for investors from China, where mining has been outlawed.
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube