Top Bitcoin mining nation Kazakhstan shuts down internet amid protests

Kazakhstan, home to the world's second-largest (BTC) mining hashrate, is experiencing a major internet outage amid local anti-government protests.

Network data provider NetBlocks reported on Wednesday that Kazakhstan is "in the midst of a nationwide internet outage after a day of mobile internet outages and partial restrictions". Kazakhstan's normalized internet connection rate fell to 2% on Wednesday, data showed.

"This incident is likely to severely limit coverage of the escalating anti-government protests," NetBlocks noted.

According to some reports, Kazakhtelecom, Kazakhstan's largest telecommunications company, has shut down the internet across the country. Mobile phone networks were also reportedly shut down in some cities, including Almaty.

The ongoing internet outage in Kazakhstan comes after the Kazakh government resigned amid protests sparked by a sharp rise in fuel prices. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismissed Kazakhstan's government early Wednesday and declared a state of emergency in Almaty and surrounding provinces.

According to some analysts, the protests are also a response to the lack of democracy in the country. "Young internet-savvy Kazakhs, especially in Almaty, probably want the same freedoms as Ukrainians, Georgians, Moldovans, Kyrgyz and Armenians," said Tim Ash, emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management. , these people have also vented their dissatisfaction with the authoritarian regime for years.”

The protests have turned violent, with reports of ongoing firefights between protesters and state security agencies, including police and National Guard troops.

The recent network outage may affect the global Bitcoin hash rate. As previously reported by Cointelegraph, as of October 2021, Kazakhstan accounts for 18% of the global distribution of Bitcoin mining computing power, second only to the United States.

After the Chinese government announced a renewed ban on the cryptocurrency industry in September 2021, many Chinese bitcoin mining companies and miners are increasingly moving their services to Kazakhstan.