Kazakhstan approves new mining rules to fund $1B Bitcoin reserve

Kazakhstan just formalized one of the most aggressive state-level Bitcoin mining strategies on the planet. On July 23, the government approved what it calls the “Rules for Implementing Strategic Crypto Mining,” a framework that gives approved mining companies locked-in electricity rates for up to 10 years. The catch: miners have to hand over a portion of their mined Bitcoin to a national fund targeting up to $1 billion in crypto reserves.

How the deal actually works

Mining companies that pass the government’s approval process get access to capped electricity quotas, essentially a guarantee that their power costs won’t spike for a full decade. In return, those miners contribute a slice of their freshly mined digital assets to the Astana Hub Autonomous Cluster Fund. That fund is managed by the National Investment Company of Kazakhstan. The target: accumulate up to $1 billion worth of crypto in national reserves.

Kazakhstan has been building toward this for years. The country legalized mining operations back in 2020 and passed its Law on Digital Assets in 2023. In 2025, the government announced plans for a national crypto reserve fund valued between $500 million and $1 billion, seeded through seized assets and mining revenues. Then in March 2026, the central bank signaled it would allocate as much as $350 million from existing gold and foreign exchange reserves toward crypto-related investments.

The sovereign mining club keeps growing

Kazakhstan joins at least four other nations—Bhutan, El Salvador, the UAE, and Pakistan—that are actively mining Bitcoin as a strategy to build state-level reserves. Some researchers suggest the actual number of governments involved could be as high as 13.

Bhutan has been quietly mining Bitcoin using its abundant hydropower resources and holds approximately 6,000 BTC. El Salvador holds about 7,517 BTC, with roughly 474 of those coming from domestic mining operations.

Kazakhstan’s approach is structured as a public-private partnership. Rather than the state operating mines directly, it’s outsourcing the actual mining to private companies and taking a cut. After China’s crackdown on crypto mining in 2021, Kazakhstan briefly became the world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining hub as miners fled across the border looking for cheap power. That sudden influx caused energy grid strain and illegal mining operations that overwhelmed local infrastructure. The new regulatory framework is partly an attempt to manage those energy challenges while still capitalizing on the economic opportunity.

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