Cryptocurrency miners in Russia appear to be unbothered by the ongoing crisis of crypto mining as the local demand for mining hardware has reportedly been on the surge in Q4 2022.

Some crypto mining hardware distributors in Russia have faced a significant spike in demand for mining-designed application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips, the local news agency Kommersant reported on Dec. 1.

Local dealer Chilkoot reported its ASIC sales in November and October exceeded its entire sales made in Q3. Over the past nine months, the distributor reportedly sold 65% more hardware than in 2021.

“We are working with legal entities, and we see that they began to buy 30% more equipment in one transaction than at the beginning of the year,” Chilkoot development manager Artem Eremin said.

BitRiver, Russia’s largest crypto mining-focused data center facility, has also recorded a notable increase in demand, reportedly seeing 150% growth over the past 10 months.

Russia’s reported a surge in demand for cryptocurrency mining hardware comes amid tough times for the mining industry, with total Bitcoin (BTC) mining revenue hitting two-year lows in late November. A number of mining firms — including Argo Blockchain and Core Scientific — have even questioned whether they would be able to continue operations due to massive losses driven by the current bear market in crypto.

Miners in Russia have likely been increasingly hoarding crypto ASICs due to reduced prices of mining devices as well as low-cost energy.

(By HELEN PARTZ)