Odaily News Russian bitcoin mining hotspots are consuming more energy than ever before, according to a new study by credit ratings firm ACRA Ratings, as cryptocurrency adoption continues to grow across the country.
The study showed that the annual energy consumption growth rate of the Republic of Ingushetia in the North Caucasus "surged" by 40.8%. Russian-occupied Crimea ranked second in the electricity consumption table, with a growth rate of about 14%.
However, most of the other regions in the top eight in energy consumption are more closely associated with the cryptocurrency mining industry. Kabardino-Balkaria, ranked third, saw an 11.5% increase in energy consumption, and Chechnya, another North Caucasus republic, ranked fourth with a 10.5% increase. The Altai Republic ranked fifth with a year-on-year increase of 10.3%, the Republic of Buryatia ranked seventh with a year-on-year increase of 8.3%, and Irkutsk Oblast ranked eighth with a year-on-year increase of 7.8%. Rostov Oblast in southeastern Russia was another anomaly, ranking sixth with a growth rate of 8.5%.
Interest in cryptocurrency mining appears to be on the rise in both Crimea and Rostov. Last August, it was reported that about 3% of all new cryptocurrency mining machine purchases in Russia currently come from the Rostov region, and 14.5% of new cryptocurrency mining machine orders in "southern Russia" last year came from Crimea. (TASS)