Bitcoin (BTC) miners have experienced one of the most difficult times in their history. Less than a year ago, China banished all crypto miners and they ended up in Kazakhstan, and now they are experiencing an internet shutdown in the country. Hence, unsurprisingly, the price of crypto has staggered.
What is happening in Kazakhstan?
In recent days, Kazakhstan has experienced violent clashes between protesters, police and even the army. Specifically, the protests began over the weekend as the fuel crisis worsened after the government lifted price controls.
According to CNN, just a few hours ago the country’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, ordered the security forces to “kill without warning.”
It is important to note that, although the protests were sparked after a rise in fuel prices, there are long-standing problems that have to some extent also catalyzed the social explosion. In particular, according to CNN, there is an environment marked by anger caused by endemic corruption in the government, as well as social inequality and economic difficulties.
In fact, the price increase was specifically for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and many citizens had transformed their cars with the aim of accepting that fuel since, previously, it had a low cost.
However, Kazakhstan is not only experiencing social tension. The country’s president ordered the nation’s telecommunications provider, Kazakhtelecom, to shut down Internet service. Yes, Kazakhstan is facing an internet shutdown.
⚠️ Confirmed: #Kazakhstan is now in the midst of a nation-scale internet blackout after a day of mobile internet disruptions and partial restrictions.
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 5, 2022
The incident is likely to severely limit coverage of escalating anti-government protests.
📰 Report: https://t.co/Op5GwzXKbh pic.twitter.com/pdHJkJFe7v
Bitcoin takes hit after hit
Less than a year ago, the Bitcoin miners who were in China had to find a new refuge and it was precisely Kazakhstan. And, according to Fortune, in August the country was home to 18% of the world’s Bitcoin mining.
Thus, the unstable conditions that led to the shutdown of the internet in Kazakhstan, wiped out 15% of the world’s Bitcoin miners, according to Kevin Zhang, according to CNBC. Thus, in the hours after the outage, Bitcoin’s computational power sank. Also, the price of the leading crypto plunged below $43,000.
And the reality is that the problems for Bitcoin miners in Kazakhstan are not expected to be eliminated anytime soon. In fact, according to NetBlocks, connectivity levels remain unchanged at just 5% of normal levels across the country.
