The Chinese ban on mining propelled the United States to the forefront of Bitcoin’s hashrate; miners’ revenues hit new records, though the industry was also grappling with a semiconductor shortage. We look back at what 2021 meant for the mining sector.<\/p>\n
In late May stated the authorities’ intention to take measures regarding mining<\/a> cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin trading. He urged regulators to support the real economy and impose tougher oversight of the crypto industry. <\/p>\n Almost unprecedentedly for someone of such high rank, a direct proposal to ban mining operations was made. Environmental considerations \u2014 Beijing aims for carbon neutrality by 2060 \u2014 could be decisive for China. <\/p>\n According to one of the studies<\/a> from April, mining farms located in China could over a three-year horizon surpass the Philippines in greenhouse-gas emissions. The researchers argued the industry would rise to 10th place in energy consumption and CO2 emissions, leaving behind the largest Chinese cities and a number of leading industrial regions, including electronics manufacturing.<\/p>\n \u201cMining is not counted anywhere as a separate source of carbon dioxide, which complicates the assessment of its impact on the carbon budget<\/span> of the PRC. Policymakers should address this problem as soon as possible,\u201d \u2014 noted the researchers at the time.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n They proposed restricting Bitcoin mining at least in regions where coal-fired TES<\/span> plants are the main source of electricity.<\/p>\n Following Liu He\u2019s statement, the official government news agency Xinhua released a piece criticizing Bitcoin and mining<\/a>. There was a first industry reaction \u2014 according to media, the BTC.TOP pool and HashCow decided to halt operations in China.<\/p>\n There were signs of hashrate migrating outside the country as well.<\/p>\n\n