Russia, the world’s second-largest home for crypto mining, is mulling restrictions on crypto mining in key areas of the country to minimize recent blackouts caused by miners’ high energy use, according to local media.

Crypto mines are projected to guzzle up to 16 billion kilowatt-hours of energy annually, equivalent to nearly 1.5% of Russia’s total energy use, according to Russia's Energy Ministry. This summer, President Vladimir Putin noted that Russia’s relatively cheap energy costs were a major culprit behind the increase in mining.

“An uncontrolled increase in electricity consumption for mining cryptocurrencies can lead to power shortages in certain regions,” Putin said at an economic meeting with government officials this past July.

That same month, Putin warned that crypto miners’ energy usage was continuing "to go up,” creating challenges for other businesses. Namely, crypto miners impacted “new businesses, residential areas, and social facilities with supply disruptions, and put on hold promising investment and infrastructure projects,” Putin said.

While the country has not legalized crypto mining, new legislation in Russia allows Moscow to levy prohibitions on mining in power-starved regions.

Russia is also experimenting with a digital ruble, a central bank digital currency that has the potential to offer savings of up to $3.3 billion for Moscow’s sanctions-battered economy. While the government is planning to announce a large-scale rollout of the program by next summer, it remains unclear if ordinary Russian citizens will adopt the digital currency, or simply feel forced into the system due to grueling economic restrictions and sanctions.