Internet Shut Down, Bitcoin Mining Offline as Kazakhstan’s Political Crisis Escalates

The Breakdown

Blockworks

Investing, Business

4.8 • 806 Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2022

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s episode of “The Breakdown,” NLW provides a basic primer on the escalating political crisis in Kazakhstan. He covers: The country’s basic economic overview and modern political history. The fuel price increase that started protests on Sunday. How protests spread throughout the week and became about a larger set of grievances. The country’s dramatic decision to shut down the internet. The implications for bitcoin mining Where things stand today. Enjoying this content? SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1438693620?at=1000lSDb Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/538vuul1PuorUDwgkC8JWF?si=ddSvD-HST2e_E7wgxcjtfQ Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9ubHdjcnlwdG8ubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M= Join the discussion: https://discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8 Follow on Twitter: NLW: https://twitter.com/nlw Breakdown: https://twitter.com/BreakdownNLW - Nexo is a powerful, all-in-one crypto platform where you can securely store your crypto. Invest, borrow, exchange and earn up to 17% APR on Bitcoin and 20+ other top coins. Insured for $375M. Audited in real-time by Armanino. Rated excellent on Trustpilot. Get started today at nexo.io. - Abra is proud to sponsor The Breakdown. Join 1M+ users and Conquer Crypto with Abra, a simple and secure app where you can trade 110+ cryptocurrencies, get 0% interest loans using crypto as collateral, and earn interest with up to 14% APY on stablecoins and 8.15% APY on Bitcoin. Visit Abra.com to get started. - FTX US is the safe, regulated way to buy Bitcoin, ETH, SOL and other digital assets. Trade crypto with up to 85% lower fees than top competitors and trade ETH and SOL NFTs with no gas fees and subsidized gas on withdrawals. Sign up at FTX.US today. - “The Breakdown '' is written, produced by and features Nathaniel Whittemore aka NLW, with editing by Rob Mitchell and Michele Musso, research by Scott Hill and additional production support by Eleanor Pahl. Adam B. Levine is our executive producer and our theme music is “Countdown” by Neon Beach. The music you heard today behind our sponsor is “Time” by OBOY. Image credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images Europe, modified by CoinDesk. Join the discussion at discord.gg/VrKRrfKCz8.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.
0:09.2	It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world.
0:14.9	The breakdown is sponsored by nexo.io, Abra, and FtX, and produced and distributed by CoinDesk.
0:22.6	What's going on, guys? It is Friday, January 7th, and today we are talking about Kazakhstan.
0:29.2	If you've been listening to The Breakdown for a while, you know that a lot of my background is in global human rights and conflict issues.
0:36.4	And so I'm excited to dig into this, although I will
0:38.2	say right up front, I am not an expert in any way. I'm not even really a passive observer of this
0:43.4	region. So I'm going to do my best to give the 101 that I just gave myself, and hopefully it's
0:48.0	useful for you. Now, before we get into that, if you're enjoying the show, please go subscribe,
0:53.4	give us five stars on
0:54.4	Apple, write a review, or join the Breakers Discord.
0:57.4	You can find the link in the show notes, or you can go to bit.ly slash breakdown pod.
1:03.2	And disclosure, as always, in addition to them being a sponsor, I work with FTX.
1:08.4	So yesterday, Dimitri Kofinas, the host of Hidden Forces, tweeted, WTF is happening in Kazakhstan.
1:16.5	And a lot of you have probably been thinking and asking that exact same question this week,
1:21.4	especially if you're in the Bitcoin community, which has even more overlap because of the
1:25.8	Bitcoin mining dimension of the story.
1:28.1	So let's start with the basics about Kazakhstan.
1:31.4	This is effectively the Wikipedia stats that you need to know.
1:34.9	Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country in the world by landmass
1:38.3	and is the world's largest landlocked country.
1:41.6	Its two best-known neighbors are Russia and China. With 18.8 million people,
	...

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