China's Qinghai Province Instructs Bitcoin Mining Operations to Shut Down

Following the report that indicates specific Chinese miners in the Xinjiang region were told by officials to shut down, another agency in Qinghai has informed miners to cease operations in a recently published government mandate. Similarly, the Qinghai Industry and Information Technology Department’s document explains bitcoin mining operations cannot operate in the area.

Qinghai Province Gives Bitcoin Miners Notice to Cease Operations

• Beijing’s crackdown on bitcoin mining seems to be spreading. It started two weeks ago after a few accounts stemming from Inner Mongolia noted the region’s top economic planner revealed new rules against operating bitcoin mining facilities in the region. The problems with bitcoin mining in Inner Mongolia turned out to be the first enforcement measure against crypto mining.
• Reports explaining the government’s plans to shut down mining operations in Inner Mongolia started surfacing during the first week of March 2021.
• At the end of May 2021, the Sichuan Energy Regulatory Office planned to hold a meeting on June 2, to discuss the implications of bitcoin mining. At the time of writing, no reports of banning bitcoin mining have stemmed from this report concerning the Sichuan province.
• On Wednesday, June 9, 2021, a report disclosed specific bitcoin miners in Xinjiang have been instructed to shut down.

The Qinghai Industry and Information Technology Department’s document.

• The same day, regional reports explained that China’s Qinghai Province issued a notice to bitcoin miners instructing operations to stop mining operations immediately.
• The notice stems from the Qinghai Industry and Information Technology Department. It notes that businesses will be inspected, existing mining projects must be suspended and no mining companies will be allowed to mine virtual currencies in the province.

• Speaking on the subject, the regional reporter Colin ‘Wu’ Blockchain tweeted about the provinces that are densely populated with bitcoin miners. “There are three major mining regions in China. Inner Mongolia has completely stopped, Sichuan may not stop, so the situation in Xinjiang is more complicated. The term used in the document is to suspend for rectification, which is not as strict as Inner Mongolia,” the Chinese journalist detailed.

• Bitcoin’s overall network hashrate has dropped since the shut down announcement in Xinjiang. At the time of that report, the hashrate was around 180 exahash per second (EH/s). At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s SHA256 hashrate has dropped to 120 EH/s.

What do you think about the reports saying Qinghai officials are cracking down on miners in the region? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.