Mike Huang, an operator of a crypto mining farm in the southwest province of Sichuan said “Many miners are exiting the business to comply with government policies” China has the bitcoin production of over half of global bitcoins. Some of the miners are seeking refuge in places such as Kazakhstan and Texas due to the lack of protection for miners in China after the ban.
Cryptocurrency mining involves heavy computers to solve complex mathematical puzzles called cryptography. The process requires heavy usage of electricity which will cause damage to our environment. The number of miners is increasing every day but overall bitcoins which can be mined are just limited. So the cost efficiency of mining one bitcoin is also increasing rapidly.
According to an estimate by Adam James ( a senior editor at OKEx insights ), China’s ban on crypto mining may have an impact on up to 90% of all mining going offline. The local government of Sichuan, which is China’s No.2 bitcoin mining centre after Xinjiang, issued a ban on crypto mining a week ago. Liu Hongfei, a mining project operator in China’s southwestern Yunnan province said, “If the government doesn’t allow crypto mining, I just have to quit”.
Chinese authorities believe that crypto disrupts economic order and leads to illegal activities, weapons smuggling, and money laundering. Research says Beijing is also worried about the damage that could cause the environment by bitcoin mining. Most miners in China are “shutting down their machines, and selling them,” said Nishant Sharma, founder of BlocksBridge Consulting, a consultancy focused on the crypto mining industry.
China’s leading cryptocurrency mining hubs such as Xinjiang, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Inner Mongolia have revealed detailed measures to find out and remove the business. “This is the end of an era for crypto mining in China,” said Winston Ma, NYU Law School adjunct professor.
Some of the major Chinese miners have already been shifting their mining businesses abroad after the ban. Mining machines which used to cost around 4000 yuan ($620) have been decreased drastically to as low as 700-800 yuan. CEO Xianfeng Yang said in a statement, ” We are accelerating our overseas development for alternative high-quality mining resources”