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An employee walks past banks of machines for the production of bitcoins and litecoins at the Kriptoyunivers mining centre during a presentation in Kirishi, Russia, on Monday. Photo: Agence France-Presse

Former Soviet fertiliser laboratory reopens as Russia’s largest cryptocurrency farm

The 44,000-sq-ft Kriptoyunivers centre churns out bitcoins and litecoins

Bitcoin

A Russian company on Monday opened what it said was the country’s largest cryptocurrency mining unit, in a former Soviet fertiliser laboratory.

The opening comes as Russian authorities seek to regulate the booming cryptocurrency sector.

“This is the largest and so far the only farm in Russia that offers the ‘full cycle’ – not just producing cryptocurrency but also offering services to those who do the mining,” said Alexei Korolyov, co-founder of the Kriptoyunivers centre.

The creation of cryptocurrencies, which are traded on the internet independently of central banks, is energy intensive.
An employee inspects machines for the production of bitcoins and litecoins at the Kriptoyunivers mining centre in Kirishi, Russia. Photo: Agence France-Presse
The Kriptoyunivers mining centre in Kirishi, Russia. Photo: Agence France-Presse
The northern Russian facility manufactures bitcoins, the most famous virtual currency, as well as litecoins – one of a number of competitors that flourished due to the success of currencies created using blockchain technology.

The private venture covers 44,000 square feet in Kirishi, a town some 180km southeast of Saint Petersburg.

It was constructed on the site of the former laboratory, which stood unoccupied for 20 years, for an investment of around 500 million roubles (US$7.4 million).

Russia is in third place after China and the United States in the ranks of cryptocurrency-producing nations since 2015, according to a study published at the end of last year by Ernst & Young.

Russian authorities, like those in several other countries, are now looking to regulate virtual currencies.

A law which would authorise the production of cryptocurrencies but forbid them being exchanged for roubles is currently being read in parliament.

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