China to get out of Crypto Mining

A rumor, or not?   Or in what sense? 

China is getting out of crypto mining. Is North America ready to embrace it?

Aug 12, 2021 at 21:07  in Coindesk

Beijing has been playing around with the notion of cryptocurrencies and blockchain for more than a decade. While the Chinese government never embraced digital currency, its opposition to the new asset class has often remained theoretical and not performative, as the infamous 2017 crypto trading ban demonstrated. As recently as March 20, the People’s Republic of China accounted for more than 70% of bitcoin mining worldwide, according to industry estimates. Soon after, though, that rate began to nosedive as the ruling party started to take action against local cryptocurrency mining farms.

 In order “to further fend off financial risks and forestall speculation in virtual currency businesses,” the Chinese State Council announced, “bitcoin mining and trading-related activities will be cracked down upon.”

That led to province after province shutting down mining operations, chipping away at the Bitcoin hashrate as the government attacked the “hype of virtual currency transactions from the root.”

Within a few weeks, three metric tons of mining hardware was being airlifted from Guangzhou to Maryland. That pales in comparison, however, to the 80 metric tons of mining machines that were likely still mothballed in China. One estimate is that a quarter of that capacity is likely to end up in North America. That might prove to be a low estimate.

After all, planes fly in all directions, and Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran and Malaysia all have mining infrastructure and are located in much closer proximity However, while their capacity is growing as a result of China’s actions, the United States seems to be a clear winner in this post-crackdown race; according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, the U.S.’s share of the global hashrate has quadrupled to 16.8% since the same time last year, making it the main successor to China in terms of cryptocurrency mining 

So why are miners choosing North America over other regions? First, the U.S. and Canada offer top-grade power infrastructure and regulatory stability, which are essential for bitcoin mining. Beyond that, these wealthy Western democracies provide an entrepreneurial culture, an educated workforce and the rule of law, among other factors for business growth that separate the U.S. and Canada from the next tier of crypto mining countries.  ... '