The Ethereum network’s total hash rate fell sharply amid crackdowns on miners in China.
According to Etherscan, on May 20 the hash rate of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization reached a peak of 643 TH/s.
In the same month, three associations under the NBK issued a joint notice to support a cryptocurrency-related business. Deputy Premier Liu He of the State Council announced measures regarding the mining and trading of bitcoin.
Over the following two weeks the figure remained relatively steady around 600 TH/s, but after June 9 the decline accelerated. On Thursday, June 24, the hash rate fell by 20% — dipping below 500 TH/s.
The Sparkpool mining pool’s hash rate, once the largest Ethereum miner, fell from 150 TH/s to 85 TH/s at the time of writing.
On June 25 the mining pool Poolin announced a halt to payouts of the first cryptocurrency and Ethereum for users who locked hashrate-tokens in the Mars protocol.
Earlier, on June 18, miners in Sichuan were ordered to cease operations until June 20. Restrictions on cryptocurrency mining were imposed in three other Chinese provinces: Yunnan, Qinghai and Xinjiang.
Authorities in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also launched a crackdown on illegal mining.
Foundry’s vice president Kevin Zhang estimated that 70% of the hash rate was lost as a result of the actions of Chinese authorities. The specialist predicted that by the end of June the figure would rise to 90%.
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