Bitcoin Network Strength Slumps Due to Kazakhstan's Crackdown

Rancakmedia.com – The power of bitcoin networks around the world has plummeted dramatically following Kazakhstan's internet shutdown this week amid a tragic uprising affecting the country's thriving cryptocurrency mining business.

As a result of China's crackdown on crypto mining, the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance estimated that Kazakhstan overtook the United States as the world's second largest bitcoin mining center last year.

Following outbreaks of violence across the tightly controlled former Soviet nation, Russia sent paratroopers into Kazakhstan on Thursday to help end the uprising.

Police said they had killed scores of rioters in the major city of Almaty, while state media said 13 members of the security forces had been killed.

Monitoring website Netblocks described Wednesday's internet shutdown as a "national internet blackout" and said it affected the entire country.

Bitcoin and Litecoin Network

Miners in Kazakhstan may not use the bitcoin network as a result of the change.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin are “mined” by supercomputers located around the world, competing to solve complex mathematical puzzles, a process that consumes a lot of electricity.

In August of last year, the latest available statistics, Kazakhstan accounted for 18 percent of the worldwide “hashrate” – crypto slang for the amount of computing power used by computers connected to the bitcoin network.

Before China's current crackdown on bitcoin mining, the percentage was only 8%. According to statistics from BTC.com mining business.

Hashrate at the leading crypto mining pool, including AntPool and F2Pool, fell 14% at 1215 GMT on Thursday from its level late Tuesday. Neither group immediately responded to Reuters requests for comment.