Last year, when China suddenly banned cryptocurrency mining, the industry boomed in neighboring Kazakhstan. The Central Asian nation is now the world's second-biggest miner of cryptocurrencies, but huge energy-consuming data centers are putting intense pressure on coal-fired power plants - increasing pollution and carbon emissions.
Mrs.Moldir Shubayeva walks around inside a dusty building where he mines his Bitcoins.
This place had recently functioned as a cryptocurrency mine, and as a woman, her figure stood out among the construction workers and day laborers who filled the building.
Mrs. Moldir, 35 years old, that day wore smart casual clothes. From behind glasses with yellowish-tinted lenses, he noticed the large coils of wires in the containers, ready to be transported to the mining warehouse.
Mrs Moldir Shubayeva is the first female Bitcoin miner in Kazakhstan. Mrs. Moldir is one of a number of crypto-entrepreneurs that have started to emerge in the City of Almaty, Kazakhstan.
he became a major character in this male-dominated industry, and was respected by his peers for successfully growing his mining company into one of the largest in the country.
"I spent the last four years of my life working, I often even slept in the office," Mrs Moldir became interested in Bitcoin about five years ago, and started mining crypto with her brother at home, before building several larger mines and then renting them out.
He said the growth of his business, and of the industry as a whole in Kazakhstan, has been very rapid - especially in the last year.
"My morning started by checking Bitcoin's price, to see how it grew. If it hits $50,000 per coin, I get excited. My adrenaline gets pumped."
Bitcoin price will go up and down dramatically. In March 2020, one Bitcoin was worth about US$5,000 and rose to US$65,000 in a year.
Since then, the price has dropped significantly, to around $35,000 as of this writing. But for Moldir and many other Bitcoin entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan, crypto mining has made them rich
Digital Age
Crypto mining is the process underlying many cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
This digital money does not have a central authority or bank. Instead, every payment and transfer is checked by a large network of volunteer computers.
The calculations performed are very complex, so this task requires a lot of computer power. As an incentive, the system rewards those who are willing to put in the effort for Bitcoin.
Thanks to businesses like Moldir's, Kazakhstan has now become the world's largest Bitcoin mining country, behind the US.