Report: Russia may ban cryptocurrency mining at home

MOSCOW, Sep 4 (PRIME) -- Russia may ban mining cryptocurrencies in housing accommodations due to a heavy power consumption, which could be unsafe for other residents, television channel RT reported on Monday, quoting a member of the president’s working group on Internet development, Ilya Massukh.

“Power grids would hardly handle (the pressure), and residential air systems would not be able to remove the heat that would be generated. As a result, a fire can take place. Exploitation of the housing fund for the creation of data centers should be considered for a ban,” Massukh said.

“Almost all computer capacities are not Russian, and the bitcoin is banned in the country. Correspondingly, it all runs to external exchanges. All which is left inside the country are power expenditures. It’s quite obscure efficiency for the Russian economy.”

Cryptocurrency mining, or production, is highly power-intensive. According to portal Digiconomist, electricity consumption on bitcoin production is at 16.03 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year, which is less than of Tunisia with 16.09 TWh, but more than of Croatia with 15.74 TWh.

The Etherium consumes 4.98 TWh as compared to Kosovo’s 5.11 TWh and Moldova’s 4.93 TWh.

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