Mohith Agadi
Cryptocurrency has been in the news frequently for the past few days and weeks. Well, it is making news again as it has found acceptance in Russia and Russia’s Leningrad is opening its arms to cryptocurrency miners. Russia has already brought in a bill to legalize Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, so it’s not much of a surprise that cryptocurrency miners are given a lot of importance at the moment.
Alexandar Drozdenko, the governor of Leningrad is asking cryptocurrency miners to relocate there and set up shop. He vocalized this idea during a forum for small and medium-sized businesses that was attended by 600 entrepreneurs and federal representatives.
The Leningrad nuclear power plant in the Sosnovy Bo region of Leningrad is well suited for this task. An industrial park dedicated to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency mining can be set up there without much trouble. The power plant was set up in 1974 and a new power plant is being developed right next to it.
When the new power plant is completed, large portions of the older power plant will be abandoned, and those areas can be repurposed for Bitcoin mining. “As you know, the construction of LNPP-2 is being completed in Sosnovy Bor, and large areas of the first nuclear power plant are being liberated,” Drozdenko explained.
Cheap electricity and huge processing areas will be required for cryptocurrency mining and the nuclear power plant can provide both. Governor Drozdenko is already discussing creation of a technopark for cheap energy with Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev. Rosatom is the regulatory body for all of Russia’s civilian as well as military nuclear assets.
Cryptocurrency is garnering a lot of interest in every level of Russian government, and many regions of the country are coming up with different schemes to attract cryptocurrency miners. According to First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov the government is even planning to set up state owned cryptocurrency farms.
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