The Russian government has banned Bitcoin mining in Moscow and its surrounding region to alleviate pressure on the country’s ailing power grid.. The ban was signed under Government Decree No. 936, which bans all cryptocurrency mining and mining pool participation in Moscow, the surrounding region, and parts of Kursk until the end of 2032..
At present, cryptocurrency mining reportedly consumes approximately 1GW of power in Moscow alone, with projections of up to 3.6GW by 2032, representing 17 percent of peak electricity demand for the entire grid.. The ban follows similar measures in ten other regions, where mining was banned through March 2031 due to electricity concerns..
The bans are likely to impact Russia’s position as the second-largest Bitcoin miner in the world, with the country accounting for an estimated 175 exahashes per second in Q1 2026, which is 16.4 percent of Bitcoin’s global computing capacity.. The ban will not impact cryptocurrency mining in the Siberian and eastern territories, where the cost of energy is significantly cheaper.
As a result, it seems likely that much of the capacity centered in the Moscow region will be moved to other regions to take advantage of the cheaper energy.. Moscow’s energy crunch has affected more than just the crypto mining sector. Forbes Russia – using data from TechExpo and the Russian Federal Property Management Agency (PKR) – reports that some 38 data center construction projects in the country have been paused in the last three years, totaling some 128.6 billion ($2.2bn) rubles in value..
A total of 128 data center projects, representing around 1 trillion rubles ($13.28bn), have been announced in that time, suggesting that nearly a third of projects have stalled. This is despite Russia – and Moscow specifically – having very little vacant data center capacity available to customers..
More in Europe. 28 Apr 2026. More in Grid Level.
22 Jul 2026
