China's Ban On Cryptocurrency Mining Expands to Additional Provinces

Bitcoin
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Bitcoin miners should probably start thinking about leaving China sooner than later. Reuters said Friday that two provinces, Qinghai and Xinjiang, banned cryptocurrency mining this week due to the country's broader crackdown on the practice.

Reuters said that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology office in Qinghai "ordered a ban on new cryptomining projects in the province, and told existing ones to shut down" on Wednesday. A similar order was reportedly issued by the Development & Reform Commission of Xinjiang's Changji Hui Prefecture.

Neither announcement was a surprise. The Financial Stability and Development Committee of China's State Council announced on May 21 that it would "crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior and resolutely prevent the transfer of individual risks to the society." These provinces are merely enforcing that decision.

That official crackdown followed other efforts to impede cryptocurrency mining in China, too, including the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission's establishment of a hotline province residents could use to report suspected miners. It's not like the Chinese government has played coy about its opinion on the matter.

Yet each successive move to suppress Bitcoin mining in China has had a noticeable impact on the cryptocurrency's value because, according to Reuters, the country is responsible for mining roughly half of the world's bitcoin. It makes sense for stricter regulations on that supply to negatively affect the world's leading crypto coin.

These latest changes were no different. Coindesk's price index shows that Bitcoin's value plummeted late Tuesday and early Wednesday as news broke about these new bans in Qinghai and Xinjiang. It has since recovered, but the price per coin has still fallen by roughly $18,000 month-over-month and is near a three-month low.

Bitcoin miners affected by these restrictions might want to consider a move to El Salvador. The country has embraced the cryptocurrency by accepting it as legal tender, considering a move to extend citizenship to anyone who owns three bitcoin, and, of course, planning to establish volcano-powered mining operations.

Nathaniel Mott
Freelance News & Features Writer

Nathaniel Mott is a freelance news and features writer for Tom's Hardware US, covering breaking news, security, and the silliest aspects of the tech industry.

  • Phaaze88
    What is going on?
    I read on TPU that it wasn't banned, this site is saying it is banned...
    Reply
  • peachpuff
    Is it banned in Taiwan too? No? Thought so...
    Reply
  • kep55
    Oh, poor babies. They can't waste time and resources on another get rich quick scheme.
    Reply
  • digitalgriffin
    Said 3, 4 years ago China was going to ban it.

    Govt do not like what they can't control.
    Reply
  • watzupken
    "Bitcoin miners affected by these restrictions might want to consider a move to El Salvador. The country has embraced the cryptocurrency by accepting it as legal tender, considering a move to extend citizenship to anyone who owns three bitcoin, and, of course, planning to establish volcano-powered mining operations."

    I like this. Sounds like a good "ant bait" to me. Get all the crypto miners around a volcano and wait for it to erupt.
    Reply
  • FB36
    Admin said:
    China's ban on cryptocurrency mining has expanded to the Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces.

    China's Ban On Cryptocurrency Mining Expands to Additional Provinces : Read more

    Bitcoin/cryptocurrency is either absolutely useless or absolutely unnecessary for any legitimate purpose but extremely useful for many illegitimate purposes, like money laundering, illegal (drug) trade, collecting untraceable ransomware payments!
    (Not to mention they are keep wasting massive amounts of electricity!)
    After proven useless as "virtual currency", they are now promoted as "virtual asset" (investment)! But, why do we need fake investments when we have plenty of real investments?
    What would happen to whole world economy, if everybody invested in fake investments, instead of real investments?
    Why do you think "Satoshi" took first 1 million bitcoins & disappeared to hiding (instead of proudly showing himself to whole world)? Realize it means government law enforcement cannot go after him! Also realize, as soon as "Satoshi" sells his share, everybody would rush to sell all their bitcoin/cryptocurrency! & so suddenly millions of people would lose all their invested money!
    Bitcoin/cryptocurrency is just a new kind of scam (just like Ponzi Scheme or Pyramid Scheme invented in the past)!
    It is not the first time that so many smart & educated people fell for really clever scam!
    Reply
  • daworstplaya
    Funny how it went from a "currency" to an "asset". Good riddance, now all the remaining countries need to ban this monopoly money of no real value.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    daworstplaya said:
    Funny how it went from a "currency" to an "asset". Good riddance, now all the remaining countries need to ban this monopoly money of no real value.
    I'm sure they will, once more countries try collecting taxes on crypto and mostly fai or more ransomware uses crypto for payments. Got to cut it off before efficient crypto-laundering networks get established.
    Reply