Sanctioned mining firm BitRiver sees crypto interest surge among Russian oil majors

Russian Bitcoin mining firm BitRiver says the country can become a leader in the global industrial crypto just within a few years.

According to BitRiver CEO Igor Runets, Russia has enough resources to become a global leader in crypto mining using associated petroleum gas (APG) as other countries such as the U.S., Canada, Kazakhstan and others have also successfully piloted this method of mining, Russian media outlet RBC reports.

Runets revealed that BitRiver’s operational data centers powered by APG currently account for at least 50% of the entire mining market segment, adding that the firm is witnessing “growing interest from major Russian oil and gas companies in developing APG mining.” As per Runets’ calculations, Russian crypto mining sector is capable of recycling up to 10 billion cubic meters of APG per year, which is, approximately, half the volume currently flared annually.

According to World Population Review’s data, Russia is the third-largest country in terms of Bitcoin‘s hashrate, behind only Kazakhstan and the U.S. As of press time, Russia is accounting for over 11% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate, data show.

In April 2022, the U.S. government added BitRiver along with several of its subsidiaries to its sanctions list for operating in the technology sector of the Russian economy in an effort to isolate Russia from the global financial amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury said in a press release that crypto mining companies help Russia monetize its natural resources, noting that Russia has a “comparative advantage in crypto mining due to energy resources and a cold climate.”