The Government of Kazakhstan has approved rules for strategic digital mining. Large mining companies will be able to purchase electricity at a price not exceeding the marginal tariff of power generating organizations by concluding contracts for a term of 10 years. In return, they will monthly transfer part of the mined digital assets free of charge to form the National Strategic Crypto Reserve. Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov signed the corresponding resolution No. 638 dated July 18, 2026. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Kursiv studied the document and explains how the new scheme will work.

Miners will transfer mined digital assets to special wallets of the autonomous cluster fund Astana Hub. Then they will be transferred to the trust management of the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, which will invest the funds in the National Strategic Crypto Reserve.

Miners will transfer not 10% of all mined cryptocurrency, but 10% of digital assets remaining after deducting the cost of consumed electricity and its supply costs (including VAT), recalculated into the equivalent of digital assets. They must be transferred monthly – no later than the 25th day of the month following the reporting month.

So far, only one company will participate in the program from the energy side – Ekibastuz GRES-1 named after Bulat Nurzhanov LLP. It has been allocated a quota of 300 MW for strategic digital mining.

Approved participants will enter into direct electricity purchase and sale contracts for a period of 10 years. The price in them should not exceed the marginal tariff of the power generating organization.

The program is designed for companies that meet certain requirements. To participate, a miner must have:

  • 01sufficient production capacity;
  • 02meet financial stability requirements;
  • 03have the necessary infrastructure to fulfill the program conditions.

Applications from miners will be reviewed by a special commission under the authorized body. It will check compliance with requirements and the availability of a free electricity quota.

Each program participant must open a separate crypto wallet for operations within the framework of strategic mining. In addition, companies are required to provide independent audit results annually, no later than April 1.

If the audit shows that the miner transferred fewer digital assets to Astana Hub than required, the missing volume must be transferred within 30 calendar days.

The rules also provide that if material terms of the contracts are not fulfilled, the commission may decide to terminate the company's participation in the strategic digital mining program early. At the same time, obligations for mutual settlements with Astana Hub remain until they are fully fulfilled.

In addition, the rules allow companies to combine regular and strategic digital mining. The main condition is separate accounting of electricity and digital assets, as well as the use of a separate crypto wallet.

Earlier, Kursiv wrote that cryptocurrencies cannot be used for payments in Kazakhstan.