Bitcoin Mining Firms React to China's Announced Crackdown
Bitcoin mining firms BTC.TOP and Huobi Mall have reacted to recent developments surrounding Bitcoin mining in China.
The move comes after a statement was published by the Financial Stability and Development Committee of China's State Council summarizing a State Council meeting held by Vice Premier Liu He that called for steps against mining in the country.
As part of the committee's commitment to control financial risk, the statement notes the need for China to "crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior and prevent individual risk from being passed to society."
A follow-up has been anticipated across the wider Bitcoin space, considering the news was made public at the end of the work week. On Monday, Reuters reported that a number of Bitcoin miners are shutting down their China operations and looking elsewhere.
Huobi Mall, part of cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, has been reported as one of the firms halting its mining operations in China; however, in its Telegram group, the firm spoke of an "editing error by the media" and stated that "the custody business of Huobi Mining Machine Mall is currently suspended and the mining pool business is business as usual."
Reuters further reported that Huobi Mall said via its Telegram group it was "contacting overseas service providers, to pave way for exports of mining rigs in the future," and that it asked its community not to worry. The BTC Times was not able to verify this quote.
BTC.TOP founder Jiang Zhuoer meanwhile wrote on Weibo that he believed the current situation was "not as bad as everyone thinks."
He said the news meant that "individual mining is allowed [...] but financial capital is not allowed to intervene, as losses could lead to social risks."
Jiang further predicted that mining in China would continue in the future, but in private households rather than through large mining farms.
Responding to a user question regarding the availability of BTC.TOP's cloud mining business, Jiang said that it would no longer be available in Mainland China. He added that cloud mining only accounted for a small part of the firm's miners, and that the risk therefore wasn't worth it.
"In the future, we will mainly deploy mining farms in North America," he wrote.
Jiang further predicted that "eventually, China will lose crypto computing power to foreign markets."
Over the past few years, the Bitcoin hash rate, previously centered in China with over 70%, has been seeing decentralization into other jurisdictions, with the U.S. and Kazakhstan among the nations recording the highest percentage gains in hash rate since 2019, according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance's Bitcoin mining map. This trend may see acceleration now that China appears to be actively looking to move mining out of the country.