Kazakhstan has enacted sweeping reforms to broaden cryptocurrency mining and trading nationwide, diverging from a trend in the United States where miners are increasingly shifting operations towards artificial intelligence (AI) data centers amidst rising energy costs.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed amendments to digital and AI laws. These changes allow crypto mining and circulation across the entire country, moving beyond the previously restricted Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC).
The new legislation, set to take effect 60 days after its publication, eliminates a prior requirement for Kazakh miners to sell most of their cryptocurrency through AIFC exchanges. This grants them greater commercial flexibility. Individual entrepreneurs and legal entities can now officially mine crypto.
💥 Kazajistán levanta restricciones a la minerÃa y comercio de criptomonedas
El presidente Tokayev firma reformas que permiten la minerÃa y circulación de criptoactivos en todo el paÃs.
Min los criptoactivos ya no necesitan ser vendidos a través del AIFC.
Esto otorga más… pic.twitter.com/dqa0PSoipk
— Diario฿itcoin (@DiarioBitcoin) June 20, 2024
While circulation of unsupported crypto assets will be authorized nationally, services linked to these assets will require a license from the national regulator. The amendments also introduce personal data protection, limiting how long banks and exchanges can retain investor information.
The Central Asian nation also plans to establish a national cryptocurrency reserve, aiming for up to $1 billion in assets. This fund, expected to be fully operational by early next year, would include seized cryptocurrencies and stakes in related companies.
In stark contrast, U.S. crypto miners are pivoting their strategies. Analysts from Bernstein report that every major publicly listed mining company in the United States has partially redirected capacity toward artificial intelligence data centers.
This shift comes as miners grapple with significant challenges since the Bitcoin halving event last year. The halving halved rewards for validating transactions, severely impacting profitability.
Companies that were profitable when Bitcoin traded around $50,000 now struggle, even with prices closer to $100,000, according to Cryptopolitan. Declining network activity and increased mining difficulty have further eroded margins.
Capital costs for expanding mining operations, including investments in specialized ASIC equipment and energy infrastructure, have also escalated. Asset manager VanEck had previously anticipated this trend, projecting that if the 12 largest public miners dedicated just 20 percent of their capacity to AI, it could generate approximately $14 billion in additional annual revenue.
The United States faces rising electricity demand, particularly in regions like Texas, which hosts numerous data centers and crypto mining operations. Investors had hoped for lower energy prices to support growth.
However, official projections do not align with these expectations. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts an 8.5 percent increase in wholesale electricity prices, reaching $51 per megawatt-hour (MWh) by 2026. This is up from $47 per MWh this year, which itself was 23 percent higher than 2024 figures.
The EIA attributes this price surge primarily to the Southwest Central region, which includes Texas, citing growing demand from data centers and cryptocurrency mining. Total electricity sales are also expected to climb by 2.6 percent in 2026, following 2.4 percent increases in 2025.
Despite these pressures, efforts are underway to accelerate renewable energy deployment, including solar, wind, and battery storage. Renewables are projected to cover 26 percent of total electricity generation next year.
Combined with an anticipated 18 percent from nuclear power, carbon-free production could reach 62 percent of the national grid. This would surpass the 40 percent expected from natural gas, potentially influencing future operational capacities for energy-intensive sectors like AI data centers and crypto mining.