What Bitcoin Mining in Russia Actually Looks Like Today w/ Alen Makhmetov

In this episode of HashrateUp, Jesse sits down with Alen Makhmetov, Co-Founder of Hashlabs, to break down the real state of Bitcoin mining in Russia — beyond headlines, speculation, and surface-level narratives. Alen shares firsthand experience operating across Kazakhstan, Russia, and Northern Europe, explaining how mining regulation actually evolves in practice: rising power prices, taxes, import rules, curtailment, FX risk, and why governments often don’t ban mining outright — they simply make it unprofitable. The second half of the conversation goes deep into Bitcoin mining heat reuse, focusing on district heating integration in Finland. Alen explains how heat is transferred from miners into municipal systems, why sites must be sized to summer baseload demand, and why 80°C outp