An interesting sea change is flowing through China as we speak. Although the country is still the biggest powerhouse when it comes to Bitcoin mining, multiple operations have reportedly shut their doors in the past few weeks. It is thought a lot of individuals will sell their ASIC hardware and move on to other ventures. If there is any truth to these claims, China may become an afterthought in the world of cryptocurrency sooner or later.
What is Going on With Chinese Bitcoin Miners?
Ever since the main Bitcoin exchanges in China halted CNY trading, there has been a lot of confusion and fake information emanating from the country. A lot of mainstream media outlets continue to claim China has banned Bitcoin, even though that is not the case. Cryptocurrency trading is still taking place in the country as we speak, and mining operations are still active. That is how it would seem, anyway, but TechBang claims the latter situation is changing in a rather surprising manner.
More specifically, the news outlet claims a lot of miners have shut off their hardware as a result of a “crackdown”. That would be rather surprising, considering both Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash still see plenty of hashpower devoted to them right now. China is still the largest mining country for cryptocurrency right now, but it appears this may come to change in the near future. A lot of Bitcoin mining machines have been discovered on CyBTC, a second-hand auction site.
Additionally, it appears there is an influx of cryptocurrency mining-related graphics cards being sold right now. This latter point has nothing to do with Bitcoin mining, as GPUs are mainly used to mine popular altcoins. While it is not unusual for people to be selling off GPUs right now, there seems to be little reason to actually do so. It is uncanny how some media outlets still assume GPUs are used for Bitcoin mining in 2017.
That being said, there is a shift taking place as we speak. Some of the remote regions of the country where electricity is cheap have seen a lull in Bitcoin mining activity. Ordos in Inner Mongolia has been considered a hotspot for Bitcoin mining activity since 2014. Things have certainly quieted down there a lot, as mining facilities are seemingly being dismantled. Although this information has to be taken with a grain of salt, it does appear things are slowly being shut down in Mongolia as we speak.
Moreover, it appears similar issues are affecting the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan as we speak. China’s harsh stance toward Bitcoin isn’t doing anyone any favors; that much is certain. However, a lot of insiders claim this stance is only temporary and things will return to normal sooner or later. Whether or not that is the case remains a big unknown for the time being.
In the end, it wouldn’t hurt to see China lose its dominant position in the Bitcoin mining space. The “centralization” issue has been a topic of substantial debate for quite some time now. For a decentralized currency, the majority of mining operations originate from one country which is not known for its transparency whatsoever. Meanwhile, the government has been doing everything it can to distance itself from cryptocurrency.
