# Mining Capacity in the Region After the Power Shortages

> Mining followed cheap power into the region and then collided with grid limits. What that did, country by country.

- Source: https://cryptoincentralasia.com/mining-capacity-after-shortages/
- Published: 2026-09-10
- Author: Rustam Khalilov
- Publication: Crypto in Central Asia — Five countries, counted separately
- Topic: industries
- Tags: industries, mining, energy

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The region attracted mining for one reason and lost some of it for another. The pattern repeated with local variations.

## The attraction

Low electricity tariffs, available capacity, and cold winters reducing cooling costs. Kazakhstan was the main destination, with activity also appearing in Kyrgyzstan and to a lesser extent elsewhere.

## The collision

Grids were not built for the additional load. Winter peaks exposed the gap between contracted supply and deliverable supply, and shortages followed in several places.

Power shortages affecting households and industry change a policy question into a political one quickly.

## The responses

Registration requirements, differentiated tariffs for the category, and priority rules placing mining behind other users during constrained periods.

Each raises the effective cost per unit of output. Together they ended the economics for informal operators.

## What survived

Large formal operations with contracted supply, often connected to their own generation or to surplus capacity. Industrial-scale activity rather than distributed small-scale.

## Country differences

Kazakhstan has the most documented trajectory and the most formalised outcome. Kyrgyzstan's hydro profile produces seasonal availability that behaves differently from thermal capacity.

For the remaining countries I have no reliable basis for describing current activity, and I would rather say so than estimate.

## The second-order effect

Formalised operators have output that is visible and must be converted through documented channels. Informal conversion is not available to a registered industrial business.

That has pushed mining proceeds toward licensed venues, which is a durable change rather than a cyclical one.

## What has not changed

The underlying energy advantage. The region remains competitive on power cost, which is why the industry contracted rather than relocated entirely.

## What operators need now

A conversion route that produces documentation a bank and an auditor accept. [An exchange that works across more than one country in the region](https://collectnexchange.com/services/crypto-offramp) matters for operators with sites in more than one.

[Collect & Exchange, which operates in several jurisdictions](https://collectnexchange.com/compliance/cysec-licensed) can settle under one relationship, and [a venue that supports several regional currencies](https://collectnexchange.com/) removes a conversion from each payout.

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This article explains how something works. It is not financial advice.
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