According to a recent study by Kommersant, despite the volatile price movement of the cryptocurrency, purchases of Bitcoin mining equipment in the nation soared dramatically in the fourth quarter.
Cheap equipment and electricity prices also contributed to the large rise.
In comparison to the entirety of Q3, Chilkoot, one of the authorized distributors of cryptocurrency mining equipment in Russia, saw higher sales in the first two months of Q4.
The company’s sales were reported to be 65% higher over the first nine months of this year alone.
According to Chilkoot’s data, between August and October, mining prices decreased by over 20%. But during the previous month, the costs stayed the same.
The reseller of mining hardware also observed a 30% spike in equipment purchases in a single transaction from the start of the year.
Vladislav Antonov, a financial analyst for BitRiver, thinks that the pricing of ASIC mining rigs, which is close to their production cost, offers a favorable entry point for investment.
Although it had a relatively strong start, Bitcoin’s price is currently holding close to two-year lows, with a little decline in hash rate estimates that stayed at around 240 million Th/s.
However, Russian earnings from the production of the digital currency have increased significantly recently.
Didar Bekbauov, a co-founder of Xive, also noted this and stated, “Hashrate rise originated from Russia. In some areas, low-cost power for homes and businesses, affordable ASIC pricing, investment opportunities were limited due to sanctions, and strong tech skills of the workforce made bitcoin mining in Russia particularly appealing.
The most recent development came after the Bank of Russia and the Russian Federation’s Ministry of Finance (MiFin) agreed to allow cryptocurrency mining in areas with abundant energy while forbidding it in areas with insufficient energy.
More recently, the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, tabled a measure allowing cryptocurrency mining operations and the sale of mined cryptocurrency assets.
