As Russia is currently embroiled in a conflict with Ukraine, observers are interested to know why Russia has such a large amount of SHA256 havehpower. Flexpool, an ethereum miner and operator announced on February 24 that it would no longer provide services to Russia. “We apologize to our Russian miners; many of you do not support the war — However, it is you who are supporting your nation,” Flexpool told its customers.
Russia is facing a series of economic sanctions. SWIFT remains accessible
All eyes are focused on the battle between Russia and Ukraine this week and after Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine, a large swathe of countries have started to impose and threaten economic sanctions. The Russian ruble has been feeling the wrath of volatile markets, Russia’s stock market shuddered and UBS cut Russia’s bond market down to zero.
European Union imposed economic sanctions on Russia. American president Joe Biden announced that the United States would also sanction Russia. The U.K. begged the SWIFT network payment network to ban Russia but the country can still leverage the financial system. Erik Voorhees, a crypto advocate and Shapeshift founder made fun of Russia’s inability to transact via SWIFT.
“Apparently Russia’s actions are so egregious that the West has decided to permit Russia to continue using the SWIFT Network,” Voorhees tweeted.
Russia Commands a Significant Portion of Hashrate, Putin Claims Region Has ‘Competitive Advantages,’ Compass Mining Says Team’s Operators ‘Isolated From Geopolitical Unrest’
Furthermore, cryptocurrency advocates have been discussing Russia’s hashpower as the country reportedly holds the third largest quantity of hashrate worldwide. This statistic is based on the July 2017 Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index data. Because electricity in Russia is so cheap, many mining companies mine cryptocurrency. You can take, BitclusterSince 2017, it has operated in Russia with over 20,000 miners and hosts hosting for $0.062 per hour (kWh).
Vekus is a Russian mining firm that uses Gazpromneft as its oil drilling company to mine Bitcoin. At the end of last month, Russian president Vladimir Putin explained that Russia has “competitive advantages” when it comes to cryptocurrency mining. Compass Mining, a mining company that hosts cryptocurrency miners in Siberia, also houses them. Whit Gibbs of Compass Mining will speak on Thursday explained on Twitter that the company’s facilities in Siberia were “well isolated from any geopolitical unrest.” Gibbs added:
Compass and our partners have confirmed with Compass that all miners remain safe. They will be operating as normal.
Russia’s use of cryptocurrencies and crypto asset miners to circumvent sanctions is already being discussed in the media. Elliptic, an intelligence platform that tracks blockchain transactions claims Iran has used bitcoin mining to bypass economic sanctions. Last week, the Biden administration told semiconductor manufacturers that they should “diversify their supply chain” and at the same time, the California-based technology company Intel announced the launch of bitcoin mining chips.
A large Ethereum mining pool bans all Russian IPs
Amid the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, Bitcoin’s hashrate has dropped a hair since reaching an all-time high on February 15, 2022. Six-month charts from that date show that the hashrate had tapped 249.75 Exahash per Second (EH/s). Today, it’s down 26% from that peak, which was 182 EH/s. While the Ukrainian situation seems to have little impact on bitcoin miners, Flexpool, an ethereum miner operation announced that it would be cutting off Russian miners. Flexpool currently ranks fifth in terms of ETH havehrate and is the largest ethereum mining operation.
“While there is little we can do, it would be wrong to profit off of it or fund it indirectly. We are canceling service to all Russian IPs and paying out outstanding balances,” Flexpool’s announcement notes. “We apologize to our Russian miners; many of you do not support the war. Your nation is supported by you. Russia can’t function without its people. Only by reducing Russia’s economic power can we affect the war. We thank you for your loyalty, and I hope you understand that we do not make this decision lightly.”
How do you feel about Ukraine’s conflict and Russia possibly avoiding sanctions using cryptocurrencies? Do you have any thoughts on the Russian crypto miners who are operating in Russia? Comment below and let us know how you feel about the subject.
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