Cryptocurrency mining and remote work drive GPU sales boom in Russia

GPU sales are reportedly surging in Russia due to the increase in online work caused by the epidemic and the obvious growth in cryptocurrency mining.

Sales of graphics cards related to crypto mining in Russia grew significantly in August 2020, according to several local electronics accessories retailers such as Citilink and Svyaznoy, Comlink reported September 14.

Alexey Rusakov, an executive at local tech distributor Citilink, told Kommersant that sales of graphics cards with mining capabilities surged 49% in August. This is related to the fact that tech giant Nvidia’s sales tripled year-on-year, said Irina Shekhovtsova, Nvidia’s director of communications for Russia and CIS.

According to Kommersant, sales of PC accessories soared between June and August 2020, increasing 470% compared to the same period last year.

Russia’s purported surge in interest in cryptocurrency mining has coincided with high levels of regulatory uncertainty surrounding the industry. Russia’s main cryptocurrency law, “On Digital Financial Assets” (or DFA), passed in July 2020, does not mention the word “mining” at all.

While the DFA law is referred to as the “crypto glossary,” there is another bill that could potentially touch the mining industry. Dubbed the “Digital Currency Bill,” the bill seeks to provide a regulatory framework for Russia’s crypto industry and is expected to be passed in December 2020.

In early September 2020, Russia’s Ministry of Finance reportedly proposed amending the DFA law to prohibit miners from receiving cryptocurrency payments for their activities. “Stand-alone cryptocurrency mining is legal, but its financial value is lost because its payments are usually processed in Bitcoin and Ethereum,” the agency reportedly said.