Bitcoin mining is quietly staging a comeback in China despite being banned four years ago, as individual and corporate miners exploit cheap electricity and a data-centre boom in some energy-rich provinces, according to miners and industry data.
After its global bitcoin mining market share slumped to zero as a result of the ban, China crept back to third place with a 14 per cent share at the end of October, according to Hashrate Index, which tracks bitcoin mining activities.
The resurgence in bitcoin mining, which has also been corroborated by rig maker Canaan’s fast-rebounding sales in China, could act as a demand and price support for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
Wang, a private miner in Xinjiang, said he started mining late last year in the energy-abundant province.
“A lot of energy cannot be transmitted out of Xinjiang, so you consume it in the form of crypto mining,” Wang said, asking to be identified only by his family name. “New mining projects are under construction. What I can say is that people mine where electricity is cheap.”
