Bitcoin (₿)

is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or sole administrator, which can be passed from user to user on a peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Transactions are authenticated via network nodes via cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. The cryptocurrency
was invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using Satoshi Nakamoto's name. The use of currency began in 2009 when it was implemented as open-source software.

LONDON (Reuters) - The global computing power of the bitcoin network has plummeted as the Internet shut down during a deadly uprising in Kazakhstan this week, hurting the country's rapidly growing corrupt currency mining industry. Is.

The Internet was shut down across the country on Wednesday, with the monitoring site NetBlocks calling it an "Internet blackout at the national level."

In August last year, according to the latest available data, Kazakhstan contributed 18% to the global "hash rate" - crypto lingo for the amount of computing power through computers connected to the bitcoin network.

In April, before China's latest ban on bitcoin mining, the figure was just 8 percent.

Its Ministry of Energy said that last year the "gray" mine could use up to 1.2 GWT of electricity, which together with the 600 MW of "white" miners accounted for about 8% of Kazakhstan's total production capacity.

The uprising in the country began with protests against rising fuel prices in the west of the country on New Year's Eve.