Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, tweeted today to congratulate Zhaslan Madiev, the Binance Kazakhstan General Manager, on his recent appointment as Kazakhstan’s Minister of Digital Development.
It is worth mentioning that Binance’s former CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), had previously mentioned in a tweet in 2022 that the Kazakh central bank would integrate and test its central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital tenge, on the BNB Chain. Furthermore, Binance also obtained a permanent license from the Kazakhstan Financial Supervisory Authority (AFSA) two weeks prior to CZ’s tweet.
In addition to the CBDC initiative, Kazakhstan’s Senate passed the “Kazakhstan Digital Assets Law” last year, which regulates the trading of cryptocurrencies and establishes specialized licenses for cryptocurrency miners and exchanges. This move indicates that Kazakhstan is creating an institutional framework and conditions for its domestic cryptocurrency ecosystem.
On the other hand, Kazakhstan has become a popular destination for cryptocurrency miners due to its low electricity fees. However, since early last year, Kazakhstan has increased electricity taxes for cryptocurrency miners, leading to concerns that miners may relocate to other countries. Nevertheless, according to data from The Chain Bulletin, Kazakhstan currently contributes 13.22% of the global BTC mining power, ranking third in the world after the United States with 37.84% and China with 21.11%. This indicates that miners have not been deterred by the increase in electricity taxes.
Bitcoin Mining Power Map source: The Chain Bulletin
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