If China Bans Bitcoin Exchanges, will they also ban Bitcoin mining?

[HashFace]

So, recent news that China is either going to ban bitcoin exchanges, or they already have ... If that's the case, will that include miners?  Or will mining become pointless if they can't exchange BTC to pay their expenses?  I keep hearing that China has cheap energy, so I was wondering all along if China would discover these energy hogs and either tax them, or shut them down.

What sort of effect would this have on Bitcoin mining if China gets shutdown?  Catasptrohic? Or the difficulty goes down and we get on fine without them? 

[100bitcoin]

Bitcoin does not depend on one country anymore. If China bans Bitcoin, it is already legal in Japan and parts of US. So, Bitcoin, mined at China, can easily be sold at those exchanges.

[HashFace]

The Chinese government is pretty good at blocking Internet access, from what I've heard.  If local exchanges are closed, and access to foreign exchanges blocked, then trying to circumvent their rules would be very risky.  Not to mention that the government probably knows where the mining farms are, and could shut them down directly, if they wanted to.

[Whiplash Wally]

Seems like it's time for Bitcoin to ban China.

[Emoclaw]

So, recent news that China is either going to ban bitcoin exchanges, or they already have ... If that's the case, will that include miners?  Or will mining become pointless if they can't exchange BTC to pay their expenses?  I keep hearing that China has cheap energy, so I was wondering all along if China would discover these energy hogs and either tax them, or shut them down.

What sort of effect would this have on Bitcoin mining if China gets shutdown?  Catasptrohic? Or the difficulty goes down and we get on fine without them? 

There is no official statement from Chinese exchanges regarding a ban.
But if it does happen, then I think the options for converting Bitcoin to CNY would be nonexistent or extremely limited.
We'll be fine without the Chinese miners (or as a matter of fact, better), but we don't really know what will happen to them. They might just all switch to Bitcoin Cash and BCH exchanges start popping up instead.

[Mezmon]

Bitcoin does not depend on one country anymore. If China bans Bitcoin, it is already legal in Japan and parts of US. So, Bitcoin, mined at China, can easily be sold at those exchanges.

This is all just manipulation. Big organizations are getting scared

[Shikaina]

So, recent news that China is either going to ban bitcoin exchanges, or they already have ... If that's the case, will that include miners?  Or will mining become pointless if they can't exchange BTC to pay their expenses?  I keep hearing that China has cheap energy, so I was wondering all along if China would discover these energy hogs and either tax them, or shut them down.

What sort of effect would this have on Bitcoin mining if China gets shutdown?  Catasptrohic? Or the difficulty goes down and we get on fine without them? 

I'm definitely sure they will also stop mining too, what will they do with their mines of bitcoins if they can't even trade or sell it. But i believe even if they stop or ban bitcoin totally in China, bitcoin is still gonna stand and maybe somehow will affect the value for a period of time but it is going to regain it's fame and height level.  

[claudiotiego]

By now it's only speculations and fake news. We should wait a few days and see if China's government will really issue a official note. I dont think they will, but if they do we may see temporary turbulence in bitcoin market.

[pearlmen]

So, recent news that China is either going to ban bitcoin exchanges, or they already have ... If that's the case, will that include miners?  Or will mining become pointless if they can't exchange BTC to pay their expenses?  I keep hearing that China has cheap energy, so I was wondering all along if China would discover these energy hogs and either tax them, or shut them down.

What sort of effect would this have on Bitcoin mining if China gets shutdown?  Catasptrohic? Or the difficulty goes down and we get on fine without them? 

If this news becomes reality, then its a matter of time before they turn their attention to the issue of bitcoin mining and the reason is because they will realize that the proposed ban will only have a marginal effect on bitcoin as against the devastating effect they had in mind so they would be left with no option than to go that route and try that one out.

[layoutph]

If they could successfully banned their local exchanges, yes they also need to banned mining. Not just from China but miners from the whole world. They are so desperate. I believe they paid the JP Morgan CEO to discouraged investors from using Bitcoin.

[anon4250158]

I'm sure that if China did ban bitcoin mining, any miners that are making significant income from it would simply pick up and leave to a more friendly environment.  Smaller miners might not be so lucky.

[Ucy]

Code:

Bitcoin does not depend on one country anymore. If China bans Bitcoin, it is already legal in Japan and parts of US. So, Bitcoin, mined at China, can easily be sold at those exchanges.

Good answer my friend. I also read somewhere that many Chinese are already moving to Localbitcoins.com, shortsighted government losing lots of important revenue as a result.
Very unfortunate world my friends.

[finthebar]

I am pretty sure if the Chinese authorities wanted to ban Bitcoin or exchanges or mining they would be pretty efficient and ruthless at stamping it all out. It might be more plausible that they are in fact trying to stamp out some of the more obvious frauds (ICO and pump and dump schemes) which could lead to a backlash and potential social unrest if enough people get stung. They are in fact good at changing their mind also - and turning a blind eye to "Good + Fair" progress. (my $0.02)

[lqkfamily]

don't keep spreading the rumors... China did ban ICO.  but not bitcoin exchange... check out the exchange sites yourself... huobi.com, okcoin.com

[BenOnceAgain]

So, recent news that China is either going to ban bitcoin exchanges, or they already have ... If that's the case, will that include miners?  Or will mining become pointless if they can't exchange BTC to pay their expenses?  I keep hearing that China has cheap energy, so I was wondering all along if China would discover these energy hogs and either tax them, or shut them down.

What sort of effect would this have on Bitcoin mining if China gets shutdown?  Catasptrohic? Or the difficulty goes down and we get on fine without them? 

Information I have from a source of mine in China is that they may be seeking to "ban" (really more of a moratorium until they determine regulations) financial institutions from performing bitcoin exchanges.  What they are considering an exchange is a true, regulated securities exchange.  Therefore, Bitcoin "exchanges" are not necessarily within that definition.  From what I am told they are interpreting services such as OkCoin as OTC bitcoin trading and therefore not subject to the "ban".

When I have a source in print for that I'll be posting it here.  For now it's information I was just made aware of earlier today.  I do not vouch for it being true or not because I haven't seen any written confirmation.  But this source has given useful and accurate information to me in the past on other matters.

I'll keep you posted.

[erickkyut]

So, recent news that China is either going to ban bitcoin exchanges, or they already have ... If that's the case, will that include miners?  Or will mining become pointless if they can't exchange BTC to pay their expenses?  I keep hearing that China has cheap energy, so I was wondering all along if China would discover these energy hogs and either tax them, or shut them down.

What sort of effect would this have on Bitcoin mining if China gets shutdown?  Catasptrohic? Or the difficulty goes down and we get on fine without them? 

First, China didn't banned exchanges. All of it were just speculations. And lastly, if the Chinese government would like to ban mining, they can do it in their country. The government has all the rights to do what they think will be beneficial for the majority but for me, they will not ban it because they have no reason to.

[BenOnceAgain]

I'm sure that if China did ban bitcoin mining, any miners that are making significant income from it would simply pick up and leave to a more friendly environment.  Smaller miners might not be so lucky.

Unfortunately it is not always easy for Chinese nationals to relocate to other countries, especially when it involves taking significant assets with them.

It can often be a long process with no guarantee of success.

[rjefferson]

Right now it's just speculations. On one hand there's so many miners there and energy is cheap. On the other hand if you can't use it to exchange, then yea, you won't be able to cover your costs. Not quite sure what's going to happen. China should find a way to incorporate it though

[iamTom123]

So, recent news that China is either going to ban bitcoin exchanges, or they already have ... If that's the case, will that include miners?  Or will mining become pointless if they can't exchange BTC to pay their expenses?  I keep hearing that China has cheap energy, so I was wondering all along if China would discover these energy hogs and either tax them, or shut them down. What sort of effect would this have on Bitcoin mining if China gets shutdown?  Catastrophic? Or the difficulty goes down and we get on fine without them? 

There is nothing to be worrying here about. What i read is that if ever the China authorities would decide to finally stop all Bitcoin exchanges, they will still allow the peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange and financial institutions can still be doing business selling Bitcoin (the buying part is what is vague).

In other words, the possibility is that this will not affect miners (and there are so many of them there!) and they can still continue on doing business. The next question would be on how these miners can be able to convert their Bitcoin to the local cash...maybe the government would also issue some rules on this.

The government am sure is quite aware that some of their citizens are involved in big Bitcoin mining and maybe they also do not want to kill this big industry right there and then. I still believe that China is just taking the time to sort things out so they can formulate a more comprehensive regulations covering cryptocurrency...otherwise they will be left by other countries like Japan and Russia (this country has the ambition of becoming a cryptocurrency hub).

[Argoo]

Yes, China is not going to prohibit crypto currency or stop the production of bitcoins. These are all false rumors that generate panic. We need to wait a while and everything will fall into place. In any case, the Crypto currency does not depend on one country, even with a large market.