Kazakhstan legalizes nationwide crypto mining and trading outside AIFC under new AI and digitalization law

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has signed amendments to the law on artificial intelligence and digitalization. These amendments permit crypto mining and circulation outside the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC).

Previously, it was formally believed that companies operating in the AIFC had preferential rights to engage in the mining, trading, and exchange of crypto assets. However, with the new law, which will come into force 60 days after its publication, individual entrepreneurs and legal entities in Kazakhstan will officially be granted permission to mine crypto.

Kazakhstani miners to sell their crypto assets to other exchanges

Although the new law permits the circulation of unsecured crypto assets throughout Kazakhstan, crypto services will still need to obtain a license from the regulatory agency. To that end, Kazakhstani miners are no longer required to sell most of their crypto assets through the AIFC exchanges.

The law will require a limitation on the processing period of personal data. The consent of an investor who has provided personal data, for example, to a bank or crypto exchange, will no longer be valid for longer than “the period necessary to achieve the stated purposes of collecting the information.”

This move comes after the country announced its intention to establish a national crypto reserve that will hold up to $1 billion in assets, including confiscated cryptocurrencies and shares of companies involved in the digital currency space. The fund should be “up and running” by early next year at the latest, according to the head of the country’s central bank.

Bitcoin miners shift to AI

As Kazakhstan calls mining profitable, in the US, Bitcoin miners are shifting their focus from crypto to AI. According to Bernstein analysts, every major Bitcoin miner listed in the US has shifted its focus from mining Bitcoin to AI data centers.

Miners have faced existential challenges since last year’s halving, which reduced the rewards for validating Bitcoin transactions in half. Dwindling network activity, a loss of half of their revenue source, and soaring network difficulty have made their lives much harder.

Cryptopolitan reports that companies that could mine Bitcoin for a profit at $50,000 a coin are now having trouble at $100,000. At the same time, the cost of capital has gone through the roof, and expanding mining operations need a lot of money for ASICs and infrastructure, which might take years to pay back.

The shift isn’t new, though. VanEck already saw this coming last year. He stated that if the 12 largest public miners switched just 20% of their work to AI, their annual income would increase by approximately $14 billion.

Electricity demand surges in the US amidst shortage predictions in 2026

In the US, electricity demand is also increasing, with a significant portion concentrated in Texas, primarily due to data centers and crypto mining facilities. Therefore, investors are hoping that the prices of power will go down.

However, the US Energy Information Administration says that the price of market electricity will go up 8.5% to $51/megawatt-hour in 2026. This is up from $47/MWh this year, which was 23% more than in 2024. Additionally, the total amount of electricity sold is expected to increase by another 2.6% next year, following a 2.4% rise in 2025.

The rise will be “led by the West South Central region, which includes Texas, as electricity demand from data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities in that region increases,” EIA said.

The Trump administration and Congress are expected to use this as a chance to switch even faster to renewable power by putting in even more big solar and wind installations, along with battery storage. To that end, renewables are expected to grow next year and likely make up a record 26% of all energy generated in the US.

When combined with the 18% of power that will likely come from nuclear plants, carbon-free electricity production is expected to reach 62% of all electricity production next year, surpassing the 40% that comes from natural gas.