Clandestine Chinese Businesses May Provide Around 20% Of The Hashrate Of The First Cryptocurrency, According To CNBC
Miners in China continue to mine bitcoin, despite a complete ban on mining in the country, CNBC reports .
The experts of the publication estimated that about 20% of the bitcoin hashrate can be provided by illegal Chinese miners. Most of the illegal miners are small farms that did not have enough funds to leave China after the introduction of a ban on mining cryptocurrencies.
Last week, China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection identified dozens of businesses in eastern Zhejiang province that have used government resources to mine twelve cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, and others).
At the beginning of December, the bitcoin hashrate recovered to a record high of 180 Eh / s (exahashes).
The last time the indicator was at this level was before China introduced a ban on cryptocurrency mining.
In July, hashrate hit its lowest since 2019 at 84 Eh / s, down 53% from its high. On December 20, Bitcoin hashrate is around 165 Eh / s, according to Blockchain.com.
Chinese provinces began to introduce the first bans on mining at the end of May. In July, the State Energy Corporation of China formally requested all its customers not to use electricity to mine any cryptocurrency in all regions of the country. The migration of miners from China triggered the largest drop in hashrate in the history of Bitcoin.
After the relocation of miners from China in August , the USA (35.4%), Kazakhstan (18%) and Russia (11%) became the leaders in bitcoin mining in the world.
