President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed an amendment to the law on artificial intelligence and digitalization. These amendments will allow the mining and distribution of cryptocurrencies outside of the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC).
Previously, it was officially believed that companies operating in the AIFC had preferential rights to engage in the mining, trading, and exchange of crypto assets. However, the new law, which will take effect 60 days after its promulgation, will officially give Kazakh individual entrepreneurs and legal entities permission to mine cryptocurrencies.
Kazakh miners to sell crypto assets to other exchanges
Although the new law allows the circulation of unsecured crypto assets across Kazakhstan, crypto services still need to obtain a license from regulators. To achieve this objective, Kazakh miners no longer need to sell the majority of their crypto assets through the AIFC exchange.
The law requires us to limit the processing period of personal data. of agree For example, information about investors who provide personal data to banks or virtual currency exchanges will no longer be valid for “the period necessary to achieve the stated purpose of collecting the information.”
This movement follows the national announced It intends to establish a national virtual currency reserve to hold up to $1 billion in assets, including seized virtual currencies and stocks of companies involved in the digital currency field. The fund should be “operational” by early next year at the latest, according to the country’s central bank governor.
Bitcoin miners move to AI
In the US, Bitcoin miners’ focus is shifting from cryptocurrencies to AI, as Kazakhstan claims mining is profitable. According to analysts at Bernstein, all major U.S.-listed Bitcoin miners are shifting their focus from Bitcoin mining to AI data centers.
Miners have faced an existential crisis since last year’s halving cut the rewards for validating Bitcoin transactions in half. Their lives have become even more difficult due to reduced network activity, loss of half of their income sources, and rising costs of network failures.
Cryptopolitan reports that a company that was able to mine Bitcoin and earn $50,000 in profits per coin is now in trouble for $100,000. At the same time, capital costs are rising, and expanding mining operations requires large amounts of capital for ASICs and infrastructure that can take years to pay back.
However, this change is not new. Van Eck predicted this would happen already last year. He said if the 12 largest public miners switched just 20% of their operations to AI, their annual revenue would increase by about $14 billion.
Demand for electricity surges in the US as power shortages are predicted to occur in 2026
Electricity demand is also increasing in the United States, with a significant portion of it concentrated in Texas, primarily due to data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities. Investors are therefore hoping that electricity prices will fall.
However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says market electricity prices will rise 8.5% in 2026 to $51 per megawatt hour. This is up from $47/MWh this year, a 23% increase over 2024. Furthermore, total electricity sales are expected to increase by a further 2.6% next year, following a 2.4% increase in 2025.
“The West South Central region, which includes Texas, will lead this increase due to increased power demand from the region’s data centers and crypto mining facilities,” the EIA said.
The Trump administration and Congress are expected to use this opportunity to further accelerate the switch to renewable electricity by installing larger solar and wind farms and battery storage. To that end, renewable energy is expected to grow next year, likely accounting for a record 26% of all energy generated in the United States.
Combined with perhaps 18% of electricity coming from nuclear power, carbon-free electricity production is expected to reach 62% of total electricity production next year, exceeding the 40% from natural gas.
