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Russia to Ban Crypto Mining In 10 Regions Citing Energy Concerns
- Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
Russia will ban cryptocurrency mining in 10 regions starting January 1, 2025, to address rising energy demands.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- Power generation declined in 2022 due to export sanctions, while industrial electricity consumption surged in 2023.
- Subsidized electricity regions like Irkutsk attract miners, straining grids during winter peaks.
- Despite domestic restrictions, Russia is expanding Bitcoin use in international trade to bypass Western sanctions.
The ban, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, will remain in effect until March 15, 2031, targeting areas with severe electricity shortages, as first reported by a local news outlet (TASS).
Regions affected include Dagestan, Ingushetia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya, North Ossetia, and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, along with the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. Participation in mining pools will also be restricted in these areas.
Additionally, mining operations in parts of the Irkutsk Region, Buryatia, and Zabaykalsky Krai will face temporary closures due to high energy consumption.
Despite President Vladimir Putin signing a bill in August to legalize crypto mining, the Cabinet of Ministers prioritized the restrictions to ensure energy stability during winter, as noted by The Crypto Times . The government justifies the move as a step toward balancing energy consumption and creating fairer business conditions across the country.
According to Vladimir Klimanov, Director of the Center for Regional Policy at the IPEI of the Presidential Academy, these measures aim to alleviate the burden on central Russia’s residents and businesses, who subsidize the low electricity tariffs in the North Caucasus and Far East regions, as reported by The Crypto Times.
The TASS reports that Sergey Kolobanov, deputy director at the Center for Strategic Research, explained that the ban on cryptocurrency mining is driven by regional electricity shortages and the current system of cross-subsidization.
Under this system, lower electricity rates in certain regions are effectively supported by higher costs borne by producers and consumers in other areas.
The TASS notes that The duration of the ban aligns with the planned phase-out of these regional electricity subsidies. Once the market is liberalized and energy capacity stabilizes, the restrictions may be reconsidered and potentially lifted.
Crypto.news notes that on November 18, Russia introduced a 15% tax on Bitcoin mining profits. The country’s current mining ban stems from ongoing energy shortages and regional electricity price disparities, according to a previous TASS report .
The World Energy Outlook 2023 highlighted that Russia’s power generation declined in 2022 due to reduced industrial demand and export sanctions, while electricity consumption surged by 5.8% in industrial regions by mid-2023, as noted by Crypto.news.
Regions with subsidized electricity, such as Irkutsk, where rates are as low as $0.01 per kWh, have become hubs for crypto miners, putting significant strain on power grids during winter peaks, as reported by Crypto.news.
While the ban is temporary, experts warn it may discourage Russian miners at a time of growing global interest in cryptocurrency, as noted by The Crypto Times.
However, as Blockhead noted, Russia is simultaneously ramping up Bitcoin use for international trade, despite restricting domestic mining, as confirmed by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.
The new legal framework allows select entities to use cryptocurrency for cross-border payments, bypassing Western sanctions. This strategy also supports domestic energy companies by ensuring steady electricity demand from approved miners.
Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash
The Guardian Shows Hidden Text Can Manipulate ChatGPT’s Search Results
- Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
- Fact-Checked by Justyn Newman Former Lead Cybersecurity Editor
The British newspaper The Guardian revealed that AI-powered search engines can be manipulated by websites with hidden content.
In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!
- The Guardian revealed that AI-powered search engines can be manipulated by websites with hidden content
- The test showed ChatGPT’s search engine can be affected by a security vulnerability known as “prompt injection”
- ChatGPT can prioritize third-party’s hidden instructions when summarizing a website
In a test using OpenAI’s ChatGPT search engine feature , researchers asked for a summary of a fake website containing malicious information to alter the AI’s response—a vulnerability known as prompt injection—and the AI was susceptible to it, even favoring the third party’s instructions.
To prove this, The Guardian’s team considered a fake website of a camera’s product page—featuring good and bad reviews—with hidden instructions to give a positive review and disregard the bad reviews, and ChatGPT included only positive reviews in its summary. They also proved that AI can return malicious codes.
“The simple inclusion of hidden text by third parties without instructions can also be used to ensure a positive assessment, with one test including extremely positive fake reviews which influenced the summary returned by ChatGPT,” wrote the newspaper.
A cybersecurity researcher at CyberCX, Jacob Larsen, said that this vulnerability could be of “high risk” as people could create websites specifically to deceive users, especially once it reaches a wider audience. OpenAI was warned about this security risk.
The journal also highlighted the case of a cryptocurrency enthusiast who used ChatGPT to write the code for a crypto project and stole their credentials, making the programmer lose over $2,000.
“They’re simply asking a question, receiving an answer, but the model is producing and sharing content that has basically been injected by an adversary to share something that is malicious,” said Larsen.
OpenAI warns about possible mistakes and errors in its use, but researchers are concerned about future web practices with AI-powered search engines.
