[2018-01-05] Bitcoin Miners Are Shifting Outside China Amid State Clampdown

[aysha9872]

As China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies broadens to bitcoin miners, some of the industry’s biggest players are shifting operations overseas.

Bitmain, which runs China’s two largest bitcoin-mining collectives, is setting up regional headquarters in Singapore and now has mining operations in the U.S. and Canada, Wu Jihan, the company’s co-founder, said in an interview. BTC.Top, the third-biggest mining pool, is opening a facility in Canada and ViaBTC, ranked No. 4, has operations in Iceland and America, their founders said.

The moves underscore how China’s once-dominant role in the world of cryptocurrencies is shrinking as policy makers clamp down.

After banning initial coin offerings and calling on local exchanges to halt virtual currency trading last year, Chinese authorities outlined proposals this week to discourage bitcoin mining -- the computing process that makes transactions with the cryptocurrency possible. Officials plan to limit the industry’s power use and have asked local governments to guide miners toward an “orderly” exit from the business, people familiar with the matter said.

While the moves are unlikely to have a noticeable effect on bitcoin transaction speeds, they could reshape the cryptocurrency mining industry. Miners have until recently flocked to China because of the country’s inexpensive electricity, local chipmaking factories and cheap labor. They now have little choice but to look elsewhere.

“We chose Canada because of the relatively cheap cost, and the stability of the country and policies,” Jiang Zhuoer, founder of BTC.Top, said in an interview. He also considered locations in Iran and Russia.

Bloomberg News reported the Chinese government’s planned curbs on Wednesday. The People’s Bank of China didn’t respond to faxed requests for comment.

Bitcoin, which surged 15-fold last year, climbed about 6 percent at 5:32 a.m. New York time.

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[aso118]

Miners will move to the country with the cheapest electricity costs. If China shuts down miners, they can move to countries like Iceland which can provide cheap and clean energy. I do not think this move by the Chinese government will impact the Bitcoin network in any way.

[error08]

China government is going to far right now, seems like they don't want anything related to cryptocurrency is in their country.
Ban initial coin offering is understandable, but they have pushed it even farther by cracking down exchanges and curbs mining activity right now.
Maybe cryptocurrency mining pools are getting too big in China and consume so much electricity but government have to fulfill the demand of electricity as China is the country with the most population.

[CryptoBry]

Bitcoin miners based in China have been expecting all of these latest developments all along and many of them have already made up plans to finally say goodbye to China and get away from a government which is bent on gaining control in almost all aspects of their citizens' lives. And this is actually good news for the whole Bitcoin community as the dominance of China in mining can now be dispersed to other parts of the globe and there will be no more concentration in just one location. I heard that even Russia is appropriating a certain location where miners are welcome to do their business even if the country still has to accept Bitcoin and cryptocurrency as a regulated matter. The time has come to get away from China.

[senin]

It seems that the Chinese government has not learned any lessons since the introduction of its restrictions and bans in September last year. In addition, since that time it was already possible to issue normative acts on regulating the issue of initial coins (ICO), and not to prohibit this activity. If last year Japan, because of the introduction of the crypto currency, added 0.3 percent of the gross product to its economy, then China, on the contrary, breaks down further introduction of the crypto currency in its country.

[stompix]

If last year Japan, because of the introduction of the crypto currency, added 0.3 percent of the gross product to its economy, then China, on the contrary, breaks down further introduction of the crypto currency in its country.

No it has not.
The words by Nomura where:

The rise in the value of bitcoin couldbe adding 0.3% to Japanese GDP growth, according to Nomura analysts Yoshiyuki Suimon and Kazuki Miyamoto.

And they think that japanese people hold 3.7 million bitcoins which is absurd!!!!

About 1 million Japanese people hold about 3.7 million bitcoin, Nomura estimates. Suimon and Miyamoto calculate that the wealth effect of those holdings could trigger ¥96 billion ($851 million) of extra consumption.

They really believe those trade numbers are real.


But back to the topic:

As China’s crackdown on cryptocurrencies broadens to bitcoin miners, some of the industry’s biggest players are shifting operations overseas.

This title made my day.
After finishing work it's three beers bonus hearing this.

Now we can once for all end the whole China debate. All the myths about China being the largest in usage/tarding/holding and all this.
Without mining they have nothing.
And with Bangladesh,Vietnam,Nepal, and all the other morons starting to act against BTC probably people will finally understand how little Asia means in reality for BTC

Oh, and I also must welcome bitmain and wu to the EU
Here we have some laws in place and acting the same way here will get your ass in jail.

[audaciousbeing]

Its really a good thing that the mining companies are seeing the handwriting on the walls and are accurately predicting the likely thing that would happen inevitably because eventually, the Chinese government  will still have to play the card of shutting down exchange sites by the time they realise increasing the cost of assessing electricity for mining purpose and the price of bitcoin is on the high side which was able to cover for the cost and still turn out profit, they won't be left with any option than to shut it down.

That being said, when Chinese government do this, it then shows that they are fully taking themselves away from the map of people that matter in the crypto industry which might be an haphazard decision because what they should have comparative advantage over, is now being shared with other countries such as the United States, Singapore, Iceland and a host of other countries.

[BigTeeths]

They thought this was a complete ban but China just want to reduce the bitcoin mining in their country but it's still a smart move to do it now than to wait until it becomes completely not allowed.

[J. Cooper]

I think we all knew this was coming at some point. Now it's interesting to see where these companies are moving since China doesn't seem politically stable enough to keep doing business. Most of them are opening facilities in Canada now, so Canada seems to become the next mining hub. Interesting to seem how this will evolve in the coming months and if this will change Canada's stance towards cryptocurrency and mining.

[Kprawn]

I actually predicted that this will happen, if the Chinese government continue with what they are doing. I will also predict that

the Chinese government is up to no good with their intentions. You can soon expect the release of some Chinese GovCoin to

be forced onto their citizens. It is all about control and they have no control over Bitcoin. 

I am just glad that the Chinese dominance in the mining scene is being broken and shifted to other countries. Canada will

welcome the tax income from these endeavours.