Banking on China's ban, this Central Asian country has become the 3rd largest hub for Bitcoin mining

The Central Asian country Kazakhstan has become one of the world's leading hubs for Bitcoin BTC/USD mining, ranking behind the United States and China.< /p>

What happened: This comes after China suspended mining and trading operations in August 2021, putting the US on top - and Kazakhstan betting on the move and became the first to welcome displaced Chinese miners.

According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Kazakhstan contributed 13.22% to Bitcoin's total hash rate in January. The United States contributed 37.84% and China 21.11%. Canada ranks fourth, contributing 6.5% of the Bitcoin hash rate, followed by Germany at 3.1% and Malaysia at 2.5%.

Hashrate is defined as the computing power required by the blockchain network to process mining operations. A higher hash rate makes cryptocurrency more secure, because it would take more miners (and it would cost more energy and time) to take control of the network.

Learn more: Best Cryptocurrency Trading Courses

Kazakhstan uses non-renewable energy, such as oil — more than 50%, coal — 28% and natural gas — 17%, until 2020, according to the International Agency energy.

Price Action: Bitcoin is trading at $19,379.27, at the time of writing, up 0.91% in 24 hours. Ethereum ETH/USD is up 2.70% in the past 24 hours, trading at $1,348.54, according to Benzinga Pro.

Read more: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Bounce Higher – Analyst Says Crypto' Party Can start' this week

© 2022 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Visit Benzinga Crypto homepage - Over 1,000,000 depend on Benzinga Crypto every month