by Zühtü Anıl TUTAR

On January 2, after the long-lasting economic problems, the people in Kazakhstan were triggered by the increase in the prices of gas. In the western-Kazakhstan, people started to protest and these protests quickly spread around the country. As a response, the president of Kazakhstan ordered a blackout on the internet. Law enforcers began to use excessive force while dealing with the protests in the different spots of the country. After facing violent force from the law enforcers, peaceful protests turned into riots. After days of conflict, the order was restored but many lives were lost, many people were injured and there was damage to properties on a very large scale. Kazakhstan government claimed that criminals and terrorist organizations were behind the protests. President of Kazakhstan Tokayev requested the help of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and CSTO deployed troops in Kazakhstan to help the government regain control. Tokayev declared that the gas prices were reduced to their former price for 2 months. 

​

On the eleventh of January, Tokayev declared that order was restored. As a result of the protests, many people were detained. According to gathered information from the local organizations, approximately 10000 people were detained. CSTO troops started to leave Kazakhstan on January 13 and they were fully withdrawn on January 19.

​

The protests in Kazakhstan caused crude oil prices to increase since Kazakhstan provides almost 2% of the world's oil demand. This increase in prices was also seen in the case of uranium. Because Kazakhstan is the largest uranium supplier in the world with about 40% of the world’s uranium production, unrest in Kazakhstan increased uranium prices by 8%. The world’s second-biggest bitcoin mine also resides in Kazakhstan. After Beijing banned all cryptocurrency transactions, Kazakhstan was a good option for crypto miners residing in China. The reason behind this is that Kazakhstan is one of the biggest energy producers in the world, and it is just at the border of China. After Kazakhstan president Tokayev ordered a blackout on the country’s internet, bitcoin prices dropped by up to 8%. Because of the blackout, nearly 15% of the world’s bitcoin miners went offline. Protests also affected billionaires of Kazakhstan according to Forbes. Reports state that four billionaires of Kazakhstan lost $3 billion in total. Shares of two big banks in Kazakhstan also dropped with Kaspi Bank shares dropping by 30% and Halyk Band by 16%.

​

The riots in Kazakhstan showed the world that in the current situation of the world economy, some things that you don’t normally expect to be affected by each other, such as the bitcoin and Kazakhstan protests, are deeply intertwined. Because of the codependence caused by this connection, even the slightest change on the one side of the world can affect the other side in ways that you don’t even expect. 

​

References: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)