Bitcoin Forum

I've realized that China has the cheapest electricity costs in official statistics. Is that the reason this is #1 in terms of mining country? Or is there some other reason for that? China is not a capitalisitc country, so I think such busines is not really welcomed in the country and yet it is the leader. The country invests a lot in technology and their supercomputers are one of the most powerful. So maybe this is another reason? That China is l;ikely to welcome btc soon as some new technology?

Yep.. cheap electricity and cheap hardware. The cheaper you can get those two the more profitable your investment will be. Since most of the mining hardware is made in China itself they've got cheap and easy access to it. Also when a new big hardware generation comes, the chinese will generally have access to it first because of the shipping, so that's another advantage.

This is what I received in morning from a mining company which i signed up for recently.

"Bitcoin has had a surprise of volatility in the last month, rising from $600 USD to $1150 USD and hovering around $900 USD lately. This price rise has helped increase mining returns and lower electricity/maintenance fees. (https://www.eobot.com/fee) The price rose due to a variety of factors, including India outlawing paper currency, Trump becoming president, and Chinese regulators clamping down on some of the speculation coming out of Chinese exchanges. Here's hoping to a continued rise in 2017 and an acceptance of Bitcoin by the PBOC.

If you are looking for the world's best mousepad, you can buy one using Bitcoin at - dot com.

Until next time...happy mining,
-The - Team"

If this is true then China would be the best place to be mining. And it shows when they can justify building stadium sized mining compounds just to benefit from those electricity costs.

Also because China has big capital controls, so people can't easily send their money elsewhere.  Even if you are a billionaire in China, one day police can come by and make you disappear.  see here:
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/02/01/chinese-canadian-billionaire-disappears-from-hong-kong.html

I think Chinese people invested massively in bitcoin for such reasons.  Buying bitcoin outright is not really feasible for large purchases.  So you make/buy huge amounts of hash power, which gains bitcoin.  You then cash out that bitcoin elsewhere, like in Canada, and then buy real estate or other assets (see vancouver housing prices...) with that money to safeguard it.  That,s my theory.  With Bitcoin you can evade all capital controls.  So if I'm worth 1 billion, and want to send some money in a safe country, then why not buy a couple million dollars worth of mining rigs, mine bitcoin, then cash out the bitcoin in another country.