Russia bans crypto mining in Moscow through 2032

Russia is no small player in this space. The country accounted for an estimated 175 exahashes per second, or 16.4 percent of Bitcoin’s global computing power, in the first quarter, placing it second behind the United States. It’s unclear how much of that capacity was located in the newly restricted regions.

A pattern of regional shutdowns since 2024

This isn’t Russia’s first crackdown. The country legalized registered crypto mining in 2024, then turned around and banned the activity in 10 regions through March 2031, citing electricity demand. Year-round restrictions were later extended to southern Irkutsk and most areas of Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai.

The Moscow ban is the latest and most prominent step in that pattern. Shutting down mining in the capital and its surrounding region signals that even Russia’s political and economic center isn’t exempt when the grid is under strain.

Sanctions add another layer of pressure

The electricity issue doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Russian companies had been using domestically mined Bitcoin in international payments after legal changes designed to counter Western restrictions, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said in December 2024. Legislation passed by parliament in July maintained Russia’s ban on domestic crypto payments but preserved exceptions for foreign trade settlements and transactions involving mined cryptocurrency.

The U.S. Treasury sanctioned BitRiver and 10 subsidiaries in 2022, saying Russian mining companies helped the country monetize its energy resources and could offset the impact of sanctions.

So the picture is layered: Russia needs mining to work around sanctions, but its power grid can’t handle the load. The Moscow ban runs through the end of 2032, and whether other major regions follow will depend on how the country’s electricity demand evolves alongside its geopolitical needs.