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- Bitcoin Hashrate falls from 180.6 million to 129.1 million exahashes per second
- China cites environmental concerns for enforcing the crackdown
- Crackdown causes migration of miners to other locations
Bitcoin network Hashrate has plummeted after a crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in China. The Bitcoin hash rate, the network’s processing power per second used to secure transactions on the blockchain, has dropped to its lowest levels since November. Experts are blaming it on the recent crackdown by the Chinese authorities on cryptocurrency mining. The crackdown has been ordered by Chinese authorities citing environmental concerns. Bitcoin mining entails huge power consumption, which has a huge impact on the environment since most of the cheap power is obtained from coal-based power plants.
Steep fall in Bitcoin Hashrate
According to data provided by Glassnode, the Bitcoin network hashrate has fallen from 180.6 million exahashes per second in mid-May to 129.1 million exahashes per second on Tuesday. The hash rate was 105.6 million a year ago. Hashrate are linked to processing transactions on the blockchain, and a higher hashrate means more resources are devoted to exacting a transaction.
The Chinese crackdown on miners has been widespread and includes Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and Qinghai province. All these locations were hubs of current bitcoin mining activities. Yunnan province is also said to be coming down hard on illegal mining activities. Another major crypto mining hub, Sichuan, is also discussing regulations on mining activities. The current steep fall in Bitcoin Hashrate has been attributed to the recent curb in mining activities across China.
The crackdown which started in May led to what is being dubbed as the great migration of miners. 1THash, one of the 15 biggest bitcoin mining pools globally, lost 70% of bitcoin hashrate last week, as per the data released by MiningPoolStats. China is home to more than half the world’s bitcoin miners, and the recent crackdown has caused a steep fall in the bitcoin hashrate.
Past estimates reveal that 65% to 75% of the world’s bitcoin mining happened in China. Of the different provinces, four Chinese provinces: Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Yunnan, are major bitcoin mining hubs. Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia are home to many of China’s coal plants and cheap power. The crackdown on mining started in these two provinces because they did not match Beijing’s climate targets.
Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while pursuing his post-graduation major in blockchain development. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing, along with coding. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing skills, and a reliable craft at explaining the concepts such as blockchain programming, languages and token minting. He also frequently shares technical details and performance indicators of ICOs and IDOs.
