rain here by the end of the night. milder for many compared to last night but temperatures at or below freezing across parts of scotland so that ice risk, as i mentioned, and also a yellow warning from the met office for snow across a large swathe of scotland. we could see 10—15 centimetres over higher ground. still keep that risk of snow showers through tomorrow, this band of rain across east anglia, south—east england and the midlands will clear away. essentially tomorrow, it is a day of sunshine and showers but further snow showers for scotland and into northern england push through quickly on those gusty winds and it will be a cold feeling day for all.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... in the last half hour, it's been confirmed that the moroccan boy trapped in a well for five days has died. his body was brought up by emergency

workers earlier this evening. new appointments at number 10 as the prime minister shakes up his team after the resignations over downing street parties. ministers in the uk are strengthening legislation that will force global social media companies to take down harmful content more quickly. a parent whose daughter took her own life wants the heads of these firms to be held to account. according to the press association, prince andrew will give evidence under oath next month as part of the civil sex assault case against him. the queen hosts a reception at sandringham house for members of the local community ahead of the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne. now on bbc news, bitcoin has become big business and a major talking point around the globe. big business and a major our world investigates kazakhstan's cryptocurrency boom. bitcoin is a growing

part of modern day life. newsreader: let's start though by talking about bitcoin. - newsreader: it is a virtual currency that only exists on the internet. - newsreader: the value of bitcoin has l soared more than tenfold this year. l everyone wants a piece of the pie. but there is one place where the boom has hit big. within two years, kazakhstan has become second only to the us as a global leader in bitcoin mining. the complex technological process that powers this digital money. the industry consumes 1.8 gigawatts

of power, 8% of kazakhstan's total generation capacity. but kazakhstan's crypto boom has come at a cost. i cannot understand why they should sit on coal here, and why i have to breathe with this pollution, while they are generating their income, and the system... and with recent political unrest, is the country falling out of favour with mining businesses? kazakhstan, the richest central asian country. known for its vast oil and coal reserves... radio: and liftoff. ..space launches, and nomadic heritage.

it is also now world famous for another reason. there is no place that symbolises kazakhstan's crypto boom more than this. just outside the windy city of ekibastuz, they have built one of the largest crypto mines in the world. this highly secured facility hosts equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars. yersain is the manager of this crypto mine, which it is owned by enegix, kazakhstan's biggest mining company. how many machines?

what's happening inside these powerful computers is the backbone of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. the decentralised digital money can be spent on an increasing amount of things online and offline. there's no middleman or banks involved, the money is sent directly to the wallet of a person or shop. in orderfor a payment be successful, a huge network of volunteers around the world are required to use computers to check and verify it automatically. the process involves extremely complex mathematical problems. volunteers are randomly

rewarded with new bitcoins. wow, even with all the ventilation and the giant fans, these are still hot. that's because they are doing extremely complex maths calculations, and solving problems. and they use six times the amount

of electricity as normal computer. these mining machines come from investors around the world. enegix host and maintain them 21r/7. in november 2021, the global crypto market reached a cap of $3 trillion, growing fivefold from a year ago. the booming industry offers a new career path to young kazakhs.

which one should i pick? sub—zero? sub—zero. they laugh. no chance. do you ever get lonely or bored here? yes! you won! they laugh.

they are all installed now, yes. 800 miles away in almaty, company founder yerbolsyn proudly watches over operations. he set up enegix's first crypto mine four years ago.

does it make you proud that kazakhstan has become so famous for crypto mining? moldir shubayeva, one of the only kazakh women in crypto mining, is setting up a new facility in the city of almaty, next to a power substation.

busy?

yeah. is that work? the crypto rush means moldir barely has time for her family or her favourite pastime, horse riding. but today, she is taking a break. it's easier running a crypto mine than riding this horse, isn't it? yeah!

is it nice photo? really good. in just two years, kazakhstan has risen to become the second most important country for bitcoin mining. so how has the boom happened? well, firstly, it has some of the cheapest electricity in the world. but it was actually events over the border in china that really boosted the industry here. newsreader: the big story coming out of china's central bank's _ crackdown on cryptos, calling all crypto—related activities illegal. reporter: it looks like | they have gone absolute. injuly 2021, china, the former epicentre of crypto mining, introduced a strict ban.

bye! goodbye! see you. miners flooded out of the country to relocate their businesses in kazakhstan. 0ne chinese miner we spoke to has been working in the industry for over a decade. he asked us to protect his identity. have you seen many chinese mining companies try to move to kazakhstan?

this box came from china. it's our chinese client, and it's already running. how many mining rigs came from china and this stack? more than thousand, more than thousand. but the exponential growth has put pressure on energy supplies in the country. the government says it's now using 7% more electricity than it did last year, and industry insiders say that crypto—mining activity alone uses 1000 megawatts per hour — that's more than half it takes to power almaty, kazakhstan's largest city.

kazakhstan is now trying to manage the impact of its burgeoning new industry. starting in january, the government introduced an additional tax levy for energy used by crypto—miners. but the restrictions haven't stopped there. didar bakbau had to shut down this 2,500—rig mine because of restrictions on electricity supplies. here we have our software team. but didar and his team aren't giving up on their expansion and are looking for new sites in the country. they've even built a small mine in the office in this luxury apartment complex in central almaty.

we have here our gpu mining rigs. this whole thing mines approximately 125 bucks every day. every day? every day, yes. it allows us to pay of our rent. yeah. monthly. and something is left. internet is stable, it's cheap, but most important thing, electricity is not expensive. so you've built all of this in the last... seven months. ..seven months? it's booming. we building more. despite the recent restrictions, the increasing domestic and international demands have put pressure on kazakhstan's energy supply and the government is surprisingly open about the situation. what's the government position on electricity shortages, and are people going to have blackouts in their homes? has it happened?

when energy supplies are put under strain, things can become tense. injanuary, massive protests erupted across kazakhstan after a sudden increase in fuel prices. there was no direct link to crypto—mining, but the impact of the unrest was huge for miners. the government shutdown the internet nationwide, which took the entire industry

off—line for five days. it slowed the global network down by 18% and caused a dip in the price of bitcoin. kazakhstan's cheap electricity comes at an environmental cost, too. just 20 minutes' drive from energyx, two other crypto—mines are plugged directly into this coal—fired power station. this is an interesting sort of penny—drop moment for me. i myself have bought bitcoin. i use a phone, use an app, couple of taps, and i've a little bit of this currency that's futuristic, but now i'm here and seeing the physical, real—world side of bitcoin — very noisy, very warm. this is how the whole thing works. without this, bitcoin wouldn't exist.

it's mainly coal, and especially if you're talking about the energy generation and heat generation. dana yermolyonok is a climate expert. she's sceptical about the growth of bitcoin in kazakhstan.

i cannot understand why they should sit on coal here and why i have to breathe with this pollution while they are generating their income, and this is... it's estimated that crypto—mining, globally, consumes around 120 terawatts hours a year. that's more than argentina — a country with more than 45 million people. are you concerned about the carbon footprint of bitcoin mining? kazakhstan's mining growth

has clearly had a big impact on the country. we originally came here to cover the country's crypto boom, but, like many booms, could a bust be following — or will a balance be struck? have we reached the peak of kazakhstan's crypto—mining, or can it grow?

there's no doubt kazakhstan has grabbed the crypto revolution with both hands. the excitement about this blossoming industry was palpable during our time in the country, with fortunes being made and businesses built from nothing. but clearly the growth has come at a cost. such is the importance of this country to the world of bitcoin, now, that tough decisions taken here not only affect kazakhstan, but the future of cryptocurrencies the world over.

hello, there's a lot of weather to talk about this weekend. rain for many, strong winds, and also snow, particularly across scotland. it's all tied in with this frontal system. we have a cold front pushing its way southwards across the uk, colder air behind it, snow showers piling into scotland. notice the squeeze in the isobars as well. we keep those strong winds as we head through tonight and into sunday. and we will see more frequent showers pushing into scotland overnight, coupled with those strong and gusty winds, brings a risk of blizzards. further south we have that band of rain continuing on its journey southwards, pepping up through parts of wales, the midlands, south—west england, some heavier rain here towards the end of the night but much milder compared to last night away from scotland where we will see temperatures close to if not below freezing. so a risk of ice here and also we have a yellow warning from the met office across parts of northern and western scotland and through the central belt for snow. 10—15 centimetres over higher ground, perhaps a couple of centimetres at lower levels, 3—5 centimetres, for example.

we keep that risk of snow across scotland through tomorrow morning, some of those snow showers may push into northern england. across the midlands, east anglia, south—east england, that morning rain will clear away to reveal some sunshine but really, it is a day of sunshine and showers for many of us and those showers will be of snow through scotland and into northern england. still those gusty winds so it is going to feel colder than these temperatures suggest, that colder air starting to push across much of the uk. maybe 10 or 11 celsius across central and southern england, it may not feel that way, given the strength of the wind. most of the showers will tend to fade as we head through tomorrow evening and the risk of snow diminishes across scotland so some clearer skies, a cold and frosty night for many ahead of more cloud and something milder starting to push in on monday. this is the bigger picture, if you like, for monday, this warm front pushing across the uk. with high pressure just to the south, it looks like we won't see much if any rain across central and southern england and south wales and the rain on monday, perhaps across the north

and west of scotland, into northern england, maybe across north wales and some patchy rain for northern ireland. by and large, the further south and east you are, it should be drier, increasing cloud after a sunny and frosty start. and also a milder afternoon after that cold and frosty start. still some rain in the forecast on tuesday and wednesday, particularly the further north and west you are. further south, it stays dry for much of the week and we will all see something colder by the end of the week.

this is bbc news, the headlines... moroccan officials say a five—year—old boy who was rescued from a 30 metre deep well has died. rayan had been trapped since falling into the well on tuesday. new appointments at number ten as the prime minister shakes up his team after the resignations over downing street parties. ministers in the uk are strengthening legislation that will force global social media companies to take down harmful content more quickly. a parent whose daughter took her own life wants the heads of these firms to be held to account. the queen hosts a reception at sandringham house for members of the local community ahead of the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne.