Bitcoin mining emissions down 10% as Kazakhstan's hash rate share decreases

Kazakhstan’s share in the global Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate decreased to 6.4% since the first quarter of 2022, which brought the carbon emissions of the whole network down 10%, according to ClimateTech Vice Chair Daniel Batten’s recent analysis.

Batten said that the mainstream media failed to reveal this impact, which proves that the BTC network “keeps tracking in the right direction.”

Change in the BTC network

As Batten shared, the BTC network currently relies on zero-emission energy resources, which account for 52.2% of the network’s energy use. This marks a 2.9% increase in clean energy usage since the beginning of 2022. The remaining 47.8% still uses fossil fuels, contributing to carbon release.

This is the picture with Kazakhstan’s current 6.4% share of the global hash rate. The country accounted for 18% of the worldwide rate at the beginning of 2022.

If it had maintained that percentage, 50.7% of the current BTC network would rely on fossil fuel, while only 49.3% would consume zero-emission resources. Batten said this would be the case because 79.6% of Kazakhstan’s grid is fossil-fuel based, most of which is coal.

Batten wrote:

“The difference to emissions is even more significant. At 18%, emissions would’ ve been 36 Mt CO2-e. But at current levels, emissions are 32.4 Mt.

That’s a 10% emission reduction.”

Kazakhstan’s global hash rate share

Kazakhstan’s cool climate and rich coal resources turned the country into a mining haven. The 18% share of the global hash rate made Kazakhstan the second with the highest mining activity in late 2021.

However, the energy costs started to surge in the country due to an energy crisis that started towards the end of 2021. The problem continued to worsen since then, as the country sacrificed the miners in an effort to survive. It cut off miners’ power supplies and tightened the rules for miners’ energy consumption. In July 2022, the country introduced a differentiated tax rate based on the energy consumption of miners.

All these decisions halted the mining activity in the country, which caused the 11.6% decrease in Kazakhstan’s global hash rate share.