Astana will reserve cheap electricity for miners that hand over part of their output, with the first 300 MW available from August 2026 under a 10-year quota.
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Kazakhstan is set to fill a state Bitcoin reserve by taking a cut of coins minted under a newly approved "strategic digital mining" framework, which offers participating miners capped electricity rates in exchange for up to 10% of their production.
The scheme, detailed in a government decree published this week and reported by the Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media, will take full effect on August 1, 2026. It creates a 10-year quota for power supplied initially by the state-run Ekibastuz-1 coal-fired thermal plant in the Pavlodar region of northeastern Kazakhstan. Miners will be able to purchase a total of 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity at capped rates directly from the plant, bypassing distributors.
To qualify, mining operators must submit a formal application along with documents proving they meet a long list of requirements, according to a report from the Zakon.kz information portal. These include owning a data processing center designed for cryptocurrency mining with a minimum capacity of 150 MW and controlling computing power of at least 150 TH/s per rig. The businesses must have no outstanding tax, fee, pension, or social security debt, and no encumbrances on their property. They are required to secure internet access through contracts with at least two telecom operators and maintain a service center on site for repairing mining hardware and software. Staff must hold diplomas or certificates from educational institutions, manufacturers, or training courses.
Participants will need to maintain a separate wallet to store and transfer the cryptocurrency minted under the program, though they are not prohibited from mining outside of it. The government will take up to 10% of coins produced, after deducting the cost of the electrical energy consumed in the process.
Kazakhstan first emerged as a Bitcoin mining destination after China banned the activity in 2021. The influx of miners caused power shortages, prompting Astana to impose higher electricity rates for miners and crack down on illegal operations. The new framework is the latest step in a broader strategy to position the country as a Eurasian crypto hub.
The former Soviet republic recently issued its first license for crypto exchange services under its updated law "On Digital Assets," as previously reported. The revised legislation, originally adopted in 2023, now gives miners more legal options to exchange their minted cryptocurrency into fiat locally.
Kazakhstan has been building a cryptocurrency reserve under the control of its central bank. The plan to create one was first announced at the start of 2025. Alongside the mining quota, the reserve will also include holdings formed from seized digital currency and funds invested in financial instruments providing indirect crypto exposure.
Approved mining companies will be able to enter into an electricity supply agreement with the Ekibastuz-1 power plant, and potentially with other energy producers in the future.
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