Russian Crypto Miners Relocating to Big Urban Areas – But Face Fresh Challenge

Demand for hardware is falling in traditional Bitcoin mining hotspots, while Russian crypto miners in larger urban areas are buying more rigs.

But moving away from Siberia and the North Caucuses is presenting miners with a new set of problems, media outlets in the nation have reported.

Per a report from the Russian newspaper Vedomosti Yug, the B2B electrical equipment platform TenderPro has compiled a top 10 of areas where demand for crypto mining rigs and other related equipment is highest.

Topping the table were Moscow and the Moscow Oblast (the region surrounding the capital). This area is now responsible for 21.9% of mining hardware purchases.

Russian Crypto Miners: Relocating to Bigger Cities?

The figure for the capital dwarfed demand figures (6.7%) in the Siberian oblast of Irkutsk. The latter is the birthplace of the Russian Bitcoin mining industry.

However, mining in much of Irkutsk is now illegal. Those mining farms that do have the right to operate in the Siberian region already reportedly “near full capacity.”

The drift toward urban centers appears to be real: St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region took third spot with 4.7%.

Krasnodar Krai, in the southwestern part of the North Caucasus region, took fourth place. Krasnodar is Russia’s third most populous federal subject. Kuban, also in the North Caucasus, rounded out the top five.

The platform calculated that overall demand for mining equipment from commercial enterprises in the Russian South fell by 19.3% over the first eight months of 2025.

A ‘Market Correction’

Olga Gorchitsyna, TenderPro’s Director of Digital Products Development, said that this fall in demand may be attributable to a market correction.

She suggested that the Kremlin’s decision last year to legalize the crypto mining sector may have caused an exceptional spike in demand. Gorchitsyna explained:

“A year ago, after the legalization of industrial mining, we saw a sharp increase in demand for crypto mining equipment. However, since the beginning of this year, the excitement around the sector has gradually begun to subside.”

In previous years, crypto miners made a beeline for the Northern Caucasus and Southern Siberia, attracted mainly to these areas’ famously low energy prices.

But these areas are traditionally sparsely populated, meaning their generally more moderst power generation capabilities can easily be overloaded.

The introduction of seasonal bans and police crackdowns on illegal miners in these regions has scared off many industrial miners.

The statistics, it appears, now indicate that miners are preferring to set up shop in areas where power shortages are rare, and other mining firms are few and far between.

Noise Concerns

However, moving into the more densely populated European part of Russia is posting a new challenge for some Russian miners, as well as their international backers.

Some 260km southeast of Moscow, in the village of Kiritsy, Ryazan Region, a mining firm named Integral has faced a backlash after launching a crypto mining facility.

The village has a population of over 3,000 people, who have complained bitterly about high noise levels since the firm turned on its rigs in April this year.

Per the Ryazan branch of Top 24 News, Rospotrebnadzor, the Russian federal well-being and consumer rights agency, ordered Integral to suspend its operations for 30 days.

The agency acted after residents complained that noise levels from the facility were rising above 50 decibels.

Kiritsy residents said they were suffering from “headaches, hearing loss, and a general deterioration in health.”

Watchdog Steps In, Russian Crypto Miners Face New Problems?

Rospotrebnadzor told Integral it must install special equipment that will help suppress the noise.

The firm has brought in “specialists from China” who will help install equipment aimed at reducing the farm’s noise levels.

In August, Argumenti y Facti reported that residents say the mining facility uses gas piston turbine generators. One resident explained:

“Two of these turbines are currently operational. But there are plans to install 20 more. These two turbines have already created unbearable living conditions for people here. It’s frightening to even imagine what will happen when there are 22 of them here.”

Kiritsy residents complained that the turbine generators are “no more than 500 meters away” from some of their houses.

They added that the village is home to a children’s tuberculosis healthcare center, where young people from all over the country come for treatment.

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