How cryptocurrency mining froze a Kazakh city

摘要

To digital currency enthusiasts the term “crypto winter” speaks of a prolonged cryptocurrency bear market, but to Kazakhs in the know it will for ever be associated with the plight of a city hit by power outages during minus-30 degree Celsius weather. Many media outlets and observers have in the past two years noted the quick rise and sudden death of Kazakhstan's crypto mining boom. The demise came under the weight of heavy government regulation made urgent by the country’s energy needs. The Central Asian nation saw its electricity grid over-strained by an influx of crypto prospectors, many of whom hurriedly moved on to Kazakhstan from China when Beijing introduced unsparing crypto crackdowns amid its own difficulties in various provinces with power shortages.