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Japan’s Leading Broker SBI to Move out of Russia’s Crypto Mining Sector

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Last May when China cracked down on the mining industry, Russia became an attractive destination for miners. The country’s access to low-cost power and suitable climatic conditions were enough for luring customers. But as the world witnessed in past months the Russian attack on Ukraine. The U.S has put sanctions on  Russian industries including the Bitcoin mining industry. 

The major target of the U.S Treasury Department was Bitriver. Britiver is a Switzerland-based data center operator that has a large presence in Russia. While, in order to avoid U.S sanctions, Compass Mining, a U.S based company seeks to liquidate $30 million in mining hardware installed in Siberia. 

The invasion of Russia in Ukraine has created unrest in the mining industry of the energy-abundant regions. On the other hand, as reported to Bloomberg by a SBI representative informed that the minting of digital currencies has become less profitable because of the crypto crash. SBI is the biggest online broker in Japan. Hideyuki Katsuchi, the chief financial officer disclosed that the company intends to sell its equipment and withdraw from Russia. 

SBI Suffered Losses in Millions 

SBI is one the earliest Japanese financial firms to enter the crypto asset space. However, the financial firm suffered a pre-tax loss worth 9.7 billion yen ($72 million) in its crypto business in the second quarter. The group has also registered, for the first time in a decade, a 2.4 billion yen net loss (over $15.8 million). 

Katsuchi further revealed that the Japanese brokerage firm stopped its mining operations right after the war in Ukraine started. However, it hasn’t yet taken a decision to completely cut its ties from Siberia, Katsuchi. The executive also said that the financial firm has no other business in Russia though it plans to continue operations of its Moscow-based commercial banking unit, SBI Bank. The firm took this action after the reports of U.S diplomats asking authorities in Tokyo to force Japanese miners and crypto exchanges to break any connections with Russia, surfaced. 

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