Miners in Russia are unfazed by the ongoing challenges in the mining industry triggered by the bear market as locals jump to hoard ASCI devices.
According to a report by the Russian media outlet Kommersant, sales for Bitcoin mining hardware have surged during the fourth quarter due to the low price of the devices.
Even when miners globally are finding it hard to keep costs under control amid falling Bitcoin prices, Russian miners are well positioned due to the low electricity costs in the country.
Experts predict the supply of ASICs (application-specific integrated circuit), which is designed to mine Bitcoin, in the market may increase shortly as foreign companies step out of the country.
The positive trend in the ASIC industry is seen at a time when the demand for graphic units for personal computers is declining. Chilkoot, a local mining retailer, has had more sales in the first two months of Q4 than in the entire Q3. Bitriver, Russia’s largest mining operator, reported a 150% increase in demand for miners in the current year.
“We are working with legal entities and we see that they began to buy 30% more equipment in one transaction than at the beginning of the year,” said Artem Eremin, development manager of the Chilkoot.
Prices of GPUs began falling in the second half of September, partly aided by Ethereum’s Merge upgrade, which transitioned the network from the PoW to the PoS consensus mechanism.
According to BitRiver financial analyst Vladislav Antonov, the prices of ASIC rigs is now very close to the cost of production, providing a good entry point for investment. Entering at such low prices “could yield significant profits in the form of tens of percent over a three-year horizon.”
The industry has got a lifeline after Russia introduced a bill to legalize crypto mining activities and mined assets in the country.
