China's cryptocurrency mining crackdown spreads to Yunnan in southwest - media
The crackdown in China over cryptocurrency has now reached the country’s southwest with a campaign against misuse of electricity by bitcoin miners in Yunnan province, according to local media reports.
The country alone accounts for over half of global bitcoin production. Yunnan province is China’s fourth-biggest bitcoin mining hub.
Last month, the State Council of the country vowed to clamp down on bitcoin mining and trading. Following the news, several miners have been looking to move somewhere else.
The Energy Administration of Yunnan issued a notice on Friday ordering a probe into misappropriation and unauthorized electricity consumption by miners, the Science and Technology Innovation Express News said.
A copy of the notice is circulating on Chinese social media and crypto communities.
Along with Yunnan, the northwestern province of Qinghai and a district in neighboring Xinjiang have also called cryptocurrency mining projects to be closed. Inner Mongolia has unveiled measures to root out crypto mining, while Sichuan is probing the industry.
An increasing number of Chinese crypto miners are considering folding the business in China, and looking to move, said Lei Tong, managing director for financial services at Babel Finance, a Hong Kong-based crypto lender and asset manager.
