China’s War Against Crypto Is Officially Ramping Up (Again)

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: China’s war against crypto is officially ramping up.

The state has intensified its aggressive pursuit of crypto miners, some of whom have tried to “disguise themselves as data researchers and storage facilities to stay in business” according to a Bloomberg report.

In several Chinese provinces, inspections of companies have “intensified”, with an eye toward targeting illegal mining at places like colleges, research instiutions and data centers, according to the report. 

One reason China is taking such drastic steps is that there is concern over the country’s power supplies heading into the upcoming winter.

Crypto mining has already slowed in China, which was formerly the dominant mining country in the world. The country had a 46% share of the global hash rate as recently as April, Bloomberg notes. 

But as the country cracked down on crypto earlier this year, so did its global hash rate. Some miners wound up leaving the country while others took their chances in staying and trying to skirt the government’s regulation.

One miner in China told Bloomberg that his operations “remain intact” because he “regularly switches to new facilities to house his equipment” which is made up of “no more than 100 machines at one location”. 

Hebei province has asked companies for a self-compliance check to ensure they are not mining by September 30. 

China has said that crypto mining would “seriously affect economic and social development and directly threaten national security.” The statement says it would “disrupt” financial order.

Beginning in October, the government plans on implementing tools to monitor and follow computing activities to ensure that mining isn’t taking place.