Bitmain to halt sales of mining equipment in China

Bitmain, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of cryptocurrency-mining equipment, plans to suspend sales to Chinese miners. This is according to CoinDesk citing its own sources.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the company will relocate much of its production from Shenzhen, a city near Hong Kong, to other countries.

According to Kevin Zhang, vice president of the mining pool, Bitmain is considering relocating to Malaysia and Indonesia.

Additionally, majority of Bitmain’s production and manufacturing will now shift from Shenzhen/China to Malaysia and Indonesia

— Kevin Zhang (@SinoCrypto) September 27, 2021

At the end of September, the authorities of the PRC tightened their position on cryptocurrencies. The People’s Bank of China called the activity of platforms exchanging digital currencies among themselves or for fiat illegal. The National Development and Reform Commission of China included mining in the KPI of regional authorities.

After the Chinese state bodies’ decisions, the largest Ethereum mining pool SparkPool suspended serving users from the country, and BeePool announced its shutdown in response to ‘regulatory requirements’.

From October 8, Alibaba will ban the sale on its platform of mining equipment. The company also cited regulator and supervisory decisions in China.

Crypto platforms began imposing restrictions on dealing with clients from China, some announced closures. Bitcoin exchanges Binance and Huobi stopped registering new users from the country.

As Bobby Lee, co-founder and former head of BTCC, argues that government pressure will lead to the closure of off-exchange crypto platforms operated by major exchanges.