State-backed Crypto Mining Farm under Construction in Russia’s Buryatia

A new crypto mining facility is being built in the Russian Republic of Buryatia with support from a government-affiliated company. Construction of the infrastructure for the large-scale project is already underway, carried out by a subsidiary of Russia’s largest mining operator, Bitriver.

A 100-megawatt data processing center dedicated to the minting of digital coins will open this year in Buryatia, a Russian republic in south-central Siberia, the Russian Far East and the Arctic Development Corporation (KRDV) announced.

The price tag of the project is about 900 million rubles (over $12.3 million), the business news portal RBC reported, quoting a press release. The launch of the facility, which will host 30,000 mining machines, is scheduled for the first half of 2023.

Bitriver-B, a subsidiary of Russia’s mining giant Bitriver, has already started the construction of buildings, other infrastructure, and the supply of the necessary power equipment. The new enterprise will create about 100 jobs, the company said.

The bitcoin mining farm is situated in the village of Mukhorshibir, in the “Buryatia” Priority Development Area, a territory of the republic where a special legal regime has been established in order to facilitate entrepreneurial activities.

KRDV is a management company reporting to the Russian Ministry for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic and the President’s Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District. Its main task is to help investment projects in Russia’s Far East and the Arctic.

“Bitriver-B, which creates one of the most important enterprises for the digital development of Buryatia, has been provided with a wide range of government support tools. These are zero taxes on land and property, insurance premiums reduced to 7.6%, and a reduced income tax rate,” revealed Dmitry Khameruev, director of KRDV Buryatia. The bitcoin farm will also pay for the electricity it will use at almost half the regular tariff, the executive added.

The announcement of the major mining project comes after a report revealed last week that the total power capacity of Russia’s industrial mining farms exceeded 500 megawatts at the end of 2022. That’s despite the crypto market downturn last year and the negative effect of sanctions targeting the country’s mining potential as part of penalties imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.

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