China mulls ban on crypto mining
The NDRC has come up with a revised list of industries it wants to encourage, restrict or eliminate – the first revision since 2011. And one of the industries on the list for elimination is cryptocurrency mining, including bitcoin. Bitcoin accounts for about 50 percent of the cryptocurrency
It has been added to a list of 450 activities the NDRC said should be phased out because they do not adhere to relevant laws and regulations, were unsafe, wasted resources or polluted the environment. The public has until May 7 to comment on the draft.
The report quoted sources saying that they believe the NDRC revised listing reflects an intention by China to reboot the cryptocurrency and blockchain industries into forms it can control.
Chinese companies were significant developers of blockchain and cryptocurrency mining hardware in 2017 and into 2018 (see TSMC IC production capacity taken up by Cryptocurrency mining).
Related links and articles:
Bitcoin crypto miner uses Samsung 10nm chipset
TSMC IC production capacity taken up by Cryptocurrency mining
‘Eco-friendly’ bitcoin competitor announced