SBI Holdings, Japan’s biggest online brokerage, said it will shut crypto mining operations in Russia, adding to the churn in the region sparked by the threat of U.S. sanctions.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created uncertainty over the prospects of the mining business in Siberia, while crypto’s global market rout has rendered it less profitable to mine tokens, a spokesman said in response to questions from Bloomberg News. Chief Financial Officer Hideyuki Katsuchi announced the plan to sell machinery and withdraw earlier this week.
Miners have flocked to Russia, in part to take advantage of low-cost power from natural gas and hydropower dams, that have made it a popular destination besides North America after Beijing’s crypto mining ban last May forced them out of China.