Chinese Bitcoin Miners Defy Ban, Capture 14% Global Market
Despite China’s 2021 prohibition on all cryptocurrency trading and mining, Bitcoin mining operations are experiencing a clandestine resurgence across the nation’s energy-rich provinces, according to miners and industry analytics.
From global dominance to zero market share overnight, China has now clawed back to third place with a 14% slice of worldwide mining activity by October, per Hashrate Index tracking data.
The comeback—evidenced by mining equipment manufacturer Canaan Inc’s rapidly recovering Chinese sales—could strengthen demand fundamentals for the world’s leading cryptocurrency.
“A lot of energy cannot be transmitted out of Xinjiang, so you consume it in the form of crypto mining,” said Wang, a private miner operating in the electricity-abundant region. Individual and corporate miners are exploiting stranded energy resources and proliferating data centers to circumvent the four-year-old ban.
