The largest online brokerage in Japan announced that it would stop operating cryptocurrency mining facilities in Russia, adding to the turmoil already caused by the prospect of U.S. penalties. The future of the mining industry in Siberia is questionable in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and mining tokens have become less lucrative due to the collapse of the global cryptocurrency market. Hideyuki Katsuchi, chief financial officer, made the plan to sell the equipment and leave it public earlier this week. Beijing’s Crypto Mining Ban After Beijing’s crypto mining ban last May drove the miners out of China, they went to Russia, partly to take advantage of low-cost electricity from natural gas and hydropower dams, making it a popular destination besides North America. But in April, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned BitRiver, a cryptocurrency mining business with headquarters in Switzerland, because of its operations in Russia. Soon after, American company Compass Mining Inc. tried to sell $30 million worth of equipment in Siberia to dodge sanctions. SBI Holdings Expanded Digital Currencies According to the representative, SBI Holdings, which has expanded into digital currencies more quickly than most Japanese financial institutions, stopped mining in Siberia shortly after the war started. In the three months ending June 30, the company’s crypto asset division reported a pretax loss of 9.7 billion yen ($72 million). He...
