A Bitcoin mining site in Sichuan. Photo: EPA. On the same day, the branch of the National Development and Reform Commission in Changji, an area in the far west of Xinjiang, ordered the closure of cryptocurrency mining workshops. Currently, Xinjiang is the world’s largest Bitcoin mining region based on hashrate – a measure of the total computing power of the blockchain. On the Internet, information related to cryptocurrencies has also been thoroughly removed by China. From June 10, search results related to Huobi, Binance and OKEx – the top three cryptocurrency exchanges – were blocked on Baidu and Weibo. However, keywords like “Huobi official website”, “download Huobi” or “Is Huobi legal” still appear. This is the second time in a year that Weibo has removed keywords and content related to cryptocurrency exchanges. In March, this social network suspended the accounts of all three exchanges mentioned above. In 2019, the account of Binance co-founder He Yi, along with crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, was also locked. Last week, Weibo banned a series of crypto KOLs on its platform citing “violation of principles” and “relevant laws and regulations”. China’s recent “suppression” of crypto activities is cited as financial risk. However, the country is also concerned that mining problems will compromise its environmental goals. China has a goal of becoming a carbon neutral country by 2060. Bitcoin mining nowadays consumes a lot of energy. According to the latest estimates from the Cambridge University Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), the amount of electricity used to “mine” Bitcoin amounts to 111.5 TWh per year, more than the total energy used by the Netherlands. The prevention of cryptocurrency mining will continue to be maintained by China in the future. On June 7, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) held a meeting with the main content of strengthening supervision of blockchain-related service platforms, virtual private network (VPN) services. and cross-border Internet technologies. Earlier, the National Internet Finance Association, the Bankers Association, and the Payments Association jointly issued a statement on the ban on electronic money services, and the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission also issued a regulation, banning electronic money services. Bitcoin mining operations. “It is possible that China will issue a permanent ban on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general,” said Chen Weigang, general manager of the Financial Institutions Supervision Department of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. talk to China News Weekly .

Specifically, leaders in Qinghai province ordered the closure of Bitcoin mining pools on Wednesday (June 9) and banned related companies from operating in the province. On the same day, leaders in the city of Changji in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region ordered the closure of the mines here, which hold the largest Bitcoin mining capacity in the world. Inside a cryptocurrency mine in Sichuan. Meanwhile, searches for the keywords Huobi, Binance and OKEx have also been blocked on the search engine Baidu and on the social network Weibo. These are the three major virtual currency exchanges in the world and are used by the Chinese to trade cryptocurrencies. This is the second time Weibo has blocked cryptocurrency-related content in the past few months. In March, the social media accounts of the three exchanges were blocked by Weibo for unknown reasons. Earlier, Weibo also blocked the account of Binance co-founder and famous shark Justin Sun. A series of moves to crack down on virtual currencies from China has caused Bitcoin to plummet since the middle of last month, at times dropping more than 50% from its peak to $30,000. The reason given is because virtual currency mining goes against China’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2060. According to data from the University of Cambridge, Bitcoin miners consume about 111.5 Terawatts per hour in a year, equivalent to the total electricity consumed in the Netherlands. On Monday, the Chinese regulator held a meeting to emphasize the task of strengthening the supervision of blockchain platforms, VPN (virtual private network) services and cross-border technologies with gambling elements. . China is taking over the world’s largest Bitcoin mining capacity. (source: Cambridge University) China currently accounts for about 65% of global Bitcoin mining capacity, according to the University of Cambridge. Among them, the regions of Xinjiang, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia currently account for the largest capacity. Qinghai province ranked ninth, accounting for about 0.26% of total capacity. The Inner Mongolia region began cracking down on miners in February and shut down 35 mining companies at the end of April. Sichuan is currently the most neutral place when it comes to hydroelectricity instead of coal mines and no new policy has yet been introduced. Outside of China, miners are actively looking for new homes. The President of El Salvador has officially recognized Bitcoin as a legal currency and promoted the mining of this virtual currency using geothermal energy from volcanoes. Phuong Nguyen (according to SCMP)