New enterprises and residential districts will face electricity shortages if cryptocurrency mining farms take over all the free energy capacity, and investment projects will be put on pause, Putin added, per Ria news agency.
His claim came the same day Russia was forced to introduce electricity cutoffs in several regions due to a glitch at the Rostov nuclear power plant.
Crypto mining is extremely energy-intensive, causing electricity supply challenges even in energy giants like Russia and the United States. Russia ranks third in the world in crypto-mining capabilities.
The energy consumption of all crypto assets combined is between 0.4 percent and 0.9 percent of annual global electricity usage, or from 120 to 240 billion kilowatt-hours per year. That’s more energy than the world’s data centers use combined, Canadian energy company Just Energy has reported. Over two percent of US energy now goes toward crypto mining.
Last year, Russian military units in Ukraine together received more than $1.8 million in donations via cryptocurrency, CoinDesk has reported.
The U.S. sanctioned 13 entities for helping Russia bypass international sanctions through virtual asset services and technology procurement in March.
This article has been updated.
