Kazakhstan has come up as one of the leading contributors to Bitcoin mining hash rates following China’s ban on cryptocurrency. However, the country also had to face serious repercussions of increasing mining activities. The problem of illegal miners is particularly prevalent in the country, and they have caused upset in the national power grid. It came to the point where Kazakhstan was unable to deliver domestic electricity to its regular citizens since miners were consuming too much power.
Kazakhstan is not alone in this problem, as other continues like Iran have also reported power shortages due to illegal miners. It is a growing problem across the world, from the Middle East to North America.
Two viable alternatives have been proposed till now. While one is making a switch to proof of stake mining, the other is the search for an alternative power source. The problem with proof of stake mining is that it would render many cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, nonfunctional. Considering the present market capitalization of Bitcoin, it is nearly impossible to ban proof of work mining without causing huge economic chaos.
The other viable alternative is that of clean energy, and Kazakhstan seems to be going that way. The government recently declared that they are planning a project that would enable nuclear energy to power Bitcoin mining activities. Among all the alternative energy sources, nuclear power is the most potent yet the most heavily regulated. Kazakhstan will need to pass many obstacles before making nuclear power a reality, but the possibility is both viable and efficient.
