Bitcoin miners at the Shandong Economic and Technological Development Park, based in Changji Prefecture, Xinjiang, have been ordered by local authorities to cease activities immediately.
According to a document spreaded on Weibo, Changji (in Xinjiang China) Development and Reform Commission required of Xinjiang ZhunDong development zone management committee to suspend production of virtual currency mining enterprise before 2 PM, June 9 for rectification. pic.twitter.com/h6vaRKnHGe
— 8BTCnews (@btcinchina) June 9, 2021
The regional Reform and Development Commission ordered all operations to be wound down by 14:00 on June 9 local time.
The park covers 15,500 square kilometres. The area hosts a range of companies involved in coal mining and the use of electricity generated from it.
The notice refers to the “Measures for the Energy-Saving Evaluation of Investment Projects,” adopted by China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
Xinjiang hosts more computing power than the other well-known mining province, Inner Mongolia, where authorities have also launched a campaign against cryptocurrency mining. Miners based there have been relocating equipment to other regions since March.
According to Coin Metrics, after a reduction in mining difficulty following the latest recalculation, by June 8 the network hashrate rose slightly to 156 EH/s. On May 17 the metric had fallen to 124.5 EH/s after the crackdown on illicit mining in Inner Mongolia.
On May 21, Vice Premier Liu He said that authorities planned to take measures against cryptocurrency mining and the trading of Bitcoin.
Xinhua News Agency subsequently criticised digital gold and the methods used to mine it.
Earlier, officials in Sichuan, one of the world’s bitcoin mining hubs, held a seminar on the use of surplus hydropower under the ban. Media reported that the meeting with local miners took place in a cordial atmosphere, but without resolutions.
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