A large batch of equipment for bitcoin mining was imported to Russia

At the end of last year, 20,000 devices for mining cryptocurrencies arrived from Asia to Russia in one batch, Komersant writes with reference to Igor Runets, the founder of BitRiver data center operator. According to him, the total capacity of the equipment is 70 MW, and bitcoin mining on it began immediately after delivery.

The head of the Chilkoot miner distribution company Artem Eremin estimates the cost of such a batch at $ 50 million based on last year’s prices, that is, even before the price of bitcoin rises to current levels. The head of the Six-Nines data center, Sergei Troshin, believes that we are most likely talking about modern ASIC miners for bitcoin mining, the total cost of which can range from $ 40 to 60 million.

Experts call this supply of miners the largest in Russia and estimate the amount of computing power they generate at 1.1% of the total bitcoin hashrate. They also noted the unusual nature of the deal, since in most cases investors try not to order such large batches, but to split them into several tranches due to the volatility of the cryptocurrency market.

Runets did not specify the name of the supplier, the specifications of the equipment and the name of the buyer, only noting that it was housed in a separate hangar in Bratsk, corresponding to the Tier-III level, which means “very high safety of using the equipment.”

According to Troshin, the buyer probably “has an unspoken permission to mine at a high level.” He explained that the law on digital financial assets, which came into force since the beginning of the year, bypasses the issue of mining regulation, so the future of this business in the Russian Federation remains uncertain, and the import of such a large batch of equipment would pose a significant risk.

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