Bitcoin Miners in Russia on the Rise; Sber to Support Ethereum

Unlike the rest of the world, energy in Russia is cheap. This has ensured that many Bitcoin mining machines were purchased in the last quarter of this year.

In addition, Russia’s largest bank, Sber, has announced support for Ethereum and MetaMask on its own blockchain.

Unphased by declining BTC

The Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that sales of Bitcoin miners rose rapidly in the fourth quarter, strangely enough, demand is rising despite the fact that Bitcoin’s price has fallen in the same period even in Russian rubles.

The increasing sales of Bitcoin miners are due to the fact that the equipment is cheap, electricity prices are low, but also because legislation is favorable.

A good year for Russian BTC mining

Chilkoot is one of the official distributors of crypto mining rigs in Russia, and they say the first two months of the fourth quarter sold more than the entire third quarter of this year. During the first nine months of 2022, turnover was 65% higher than the whole of 2021. They expect this to be partly because miner prices fell by almost 20% in August and October.

Amidst miners worldwide having to sell their Bitcoins to stay financially healthy, Didar Bekbauov, founder of Xive, thinks Russian Bitcoin miners should get more recognition and said:

“Hashrate growth came from Russia. Cheap electricity for households and businesses in some regions, cheap ASIC prices, sanctions, fewer investment opportunities, high-tech qualification of people made bitcoin mining a very attractive industry in Russia.”

Politically, the miners are also doing well. The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are encouraging crypto mining in energy-rich regions.

Sber supports Ethereum and MetaMask

In other Russian news, Sber, Russia’s largest bank, has announced support for Ethereum and MetaMask on its own blockchain. The announcement was made at an international meeting for blockchain business users hosted by Sber Blockchain Laboratory.

The new functionality brings smart contracts and decentralized finance (DeFi) capabilities to Sber Bank’s open blockchain. The idea is to enable the transfer of crypto and smart contracts between their own blockchain and Ethereum’s.

Sber’s blockchain platform allows participants to issue tokens and create smart contracts. And integration with the bank’s information systems makes it possible to pay in rubles in smart contracts,” the announcement said.

In 2014 Sber had already expressed its stance on crypto and Bitcoin, with its CEO German Gref saying that the crypto in Russia definitely shouldn’t be banned and that it must be studied and maybe regulated properly.

Sbercoin stablecoin?

Sberbank will also bring together developers, companies and other banking institutions in market research and the development of business apps. The banking company that is majority-owned by the Russian state was recently given the go-ahead to launch its proprietary stablecoin called Sbercoin. This was launched last June.

In addition, Sber supports one of the most popular wallets of the moment according to the announcement: “The blockchain platform will also provide integration interaction with one of the most popular wallets called MetaMask, which will allow users to perform operations using tokens and smart contracts based on the Sber blockchain.”

Russia wants independent payment system

The Russian government owns 51% of the bank’s shares. The announcement follows recent comments from Russian President Putin in support of the blockchain space.

At a conference organized by Sberbank, Putin hinted at the development of a global payment system based on blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

Putin called the new blockchain-based system “free from interference by third countries,” referring to sanctions against his country from the West. Sber was one of the West’s biggest targets after Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine.