Russian miners keep running, may see pivot to Bitcoin in response to sanctions

cointelegraph.com:

Russian Bitcoin (BTC) miners are reportedly running as usual despite the government’s invasion of Ukraine this week.

According to estimates from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index, miners in Russia accounted for around 11.2% of the global BTC hash rate as of August 2021. With sanctions on the Russian government coming from the U.S. and allied NATO nations, it is unclear how the local BTC sector and the broader market will be impacted.

While some crypto mining firms such as Ethereum focused Flexpool have halted their services in Russia in response to the invasion, BTC miners Compass Mining confirmed to customers hosting in Russia that its mining infrastructure will remain operational in the region.

Compass Mining CEO Whit Gibbs expressed his thoughts and prayers to all affected by the conflict, on Twitter earlier today, as he reassured the community that its facilities in Eastern Europe are located safely in Serbia, well outside any “geopolitical unrest.”

I want to reassure our customers hosting in Russia that we are in constant communication with the facilities, which are in Siberia and well isolated from any geopolitical unrest. Compass has confirmed with our partners that all miners are safe and will continue running as normal.

The Biden administration outlined on Thursday that it would be imposing “sweeping financial sanctions and stringent export controls” on Russia’s top financial institutions, the government, high-ranking officials, and the technology sector.

Notably, it appears that the heavy restrictions won’t yet extend out to the international payments network SWIFT or cryptocurrency transfers. Many onlookers have argued that this could be a time in which the Russian crypto sector flourishes as