Russian Bitcoin Mining Rig Sales Rise in Fourth Quarter: Report

A new report from Kommersant has revealed that sales of bitcoin mining machines in the country grew rapidly in the fourth quarter, a trend supported by a resurgence in demand, despite the crypto-asset’s chaotic price action.

The substantial increase was also stimulated by cheap equipment and electricity prices.

• Chilkoot, which happens to be one of the official distributors of crypto mining rigs in Russia, saw more sales in the first two months of the fourth quarter compared to the whole of the third quarter.
• In the first nine months alone, the company’s sales were recorded to be 65% higher than last year.
• According to data from Chilkoot, mining prices fell almost 20% in August and October. Prices, however, have remained the same over the past month.
• The mining equipment reseller also noticed that its equipment purchases in a single transaction had increased by 30% compared to the beginning of the year.
• BitRiver financial analyst Vladislav Antonov believes that the price of ASIC mining rigs, close to the cost of production, is a good entry point for investment.
• Despite a fairly confident start, the price of Bitcoin is currently hovering near two-year lows with a slight decline in hash rate figures which have remained around 240 million Th/s.
• But Russian revenue from minting the crypto-asset has seen a multiple increase in recent times.
• This was also observed by Didar Bekbauov, the co-founder of Xive, who said,

“Hashrate growth came from Russia. Cheap electricity for households and businesses in some regions, cheap ASIC prices, sanctions, fewer investment opportunities, high-tech qualification of people have made the mining industry very attractive in Russia.

• The latest development comes months after the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation (MiFin) achieved an agreement to allow cryptocurrency mining in energy-rich regions and ban it in energy-scarce ones.
• More recently, the bill legalizing crypto-mining activities and the sale of mined crypto assets was introduced in the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament.