While crypto mining issues wreaked havoc in the world, Russia is in a good place, owing to its surge in demand for mining hardware.
Reportedly, the country has witnessed a spike in demand for application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips for hardware mining.
Chilkoot, a local hardware mining dealer in Russia, reported that the sales of ASIC chips increased rapidly in October and November. The dealer also mentioned that the sales record for these two months exceeded the previous year's! Overall, hardware mining sales jumped by 65% in 2022.
Artem Eremin, the development manager of Chilkoot, claimed they noticed a change in the purchasing behavior of the legal entities with whom they work. The manager claimed these legal entities increased their purchases by 30% compared to the previous year in every transaction. No wonder the buying capacity and requirement of data miners increased rapidly.
Russia's recent spike in demand for cryptocurrency mining hardware surfaces amidst the precarious crypto market scenario, with Bitcoin hitting its lowest in November. As a result, crypto mining companies like Core Scientific and Argo Blockchain are also in a dilemma about continuing operations amidst such falling prices.
However, what remains surprising is Russia's demand for ASIC chips and its hoarding in such testing times. According to several reports, the reduced prices of the devices and low-cost energy are the main driving factors for such a turn of events.
Mikhail Brezhnev, the co-founder of 51ASIC, claims Russia could make the most out of Bitcoin's price drop. He offered a detailed calculation to substantiate Russia's sudden demand for mining devices. He claimed that 1BTC's mining cost with an electric cost of $0,07 Kilowatt/Hour could generate $11,000 if one uses the most efficient and upgraded tools.
Crypto mining data analysis firms like BitRiver believe Russia could optimize the bearish market for its benefit. This is because, with a drop in the price of Bitcoin, purchasing the tokens became more affordable for the country. Hence, the hoarding of ASIC devices increased rapidly owing to its low cost of production. In fact, Vladislav Antonov, the financial expert of BitRiver, claims this purchase habit of the country could triple its revenue for the next three years amid the bearish crypto market.