Kazakhstan is turning its sprawling bitcoin mining industry into the foundation of a state-controlled crypto reserve. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev signed a decree on July 7 establishing the legal framework, and the government followed up on July 18 with a detailed resolution laying out the operational mechanics.

Under Government Resolution No. 638, approved miners will receive electricity at capped tariffs on 10-year contracts sourced from listed power producers. The first approved energy source is the Ekibastuz GRES-1 coal plant, which will allocate 300 megawatts to qualifying operations. Miners must operate data centers of at least 150 megawatts, with individual rigs clearing a minimum of 150 terahashes per second.

The quid pro quo is direct: miners hand over 10% of their mined digital assets , calculated after electricity and grid costs , on a monthly basis. Those coins flow to the Astana Hub fund, which transfers them to the National Investment Corporation of the National Bank for management inside a "national strategic crypto reserve.

The reserve won't just sit on bitcoin. The resolution defines it as a vehicle to invest in digital assets, derivatives tied to those assets, and equity in companies that build or invest in crypto. That structure gives the state diversified sector exposure through the National Bank's investment arm, rather than a simple coin-holding strategy.

Kazakhstan ranks fifth globally by hashrate share according to the Cambridge Digital Mining Industry Report from April 2025, a position built on cheap coal power that drew miners after China's 2021 ban. The new program reads as an attempt to harness that industrial base rather than restrict it, even as earlier rule-tightening had targeted grid strain.