The exodus of Bitcoin miners from People's republic of china into Kazakhstan has contributed to an free energy crunch that the central Asian country'south president has proposed solving with nuclear energy.

Republic of kazakhstan's Ministry building of Energy has attributed the 8% increase in domestic electricity consumption throughout 2022 to Bitcoin miners. The state received at least 87,849 Bitcoin mining machines from Chinese companies so far this year, following China's crackdown on crypto mining, according to data from the Financial Times.

The substantial increase in demand has led to a arrears in the domestic power supply and contributed to unreliable electricity services, according to the Republic of kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company. President Tokayev told bankers at a Friday meeting that he thinks building a nuclear power plant will help ease the stress on his country's electrical infrastructure:

"Looking into the future, nosotros will have to make an unpopular decision about the construction of a nuclear power plant."

While Tokayev did not connect the proposal to Bitcoin mining ability apply, failing to continue miners in the state could jeopardize the estimated $1.58 billion in taxation revenue those miners correspond. Power shortages have already forced Bitcoin mining market Xive to get out Republic of kazakhstan. Didar Bekbau, the co-founder of Xive, said in a Tuesday tweet that he had to close down his company's mining farm due to "restricted electricity supply from the grid."

Kazakhstan is now home to 50 registered and an unknown number of unregistered crypto mining companies.

Related: 'We are the number two crypto miner in the globe, and we see practically no financial return,' says Republic of kazakhstan President Tokayev

The decision to build new nuclear power plants is a serious ane for a state that suffered severe nuclear fallout from weapons testing during the Soviet occupation. Kazakhstan's last nuclear power plant closed in 1999.

About 88% of Kazakhstan'due south ability currently comes from fossil fuel-burning ability plants.