China has long been the centre of global
cryptocurrency mining, an energy-intensive process. Many bitcoin miners in
China use fossil fuels including coal, stoking concerns over bitcoin's
environmental footprint.
The country's share of the power of computers
connected to the global bitcoin network, known as "hash rate," fell
to 46% in April this year from 75.5% in September 2019, according to the data
from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.
In the same period, the United States'
share of hash rate jumped to 16.8% from just over 4%, making it the
second-largest producer of bitcoin. Kazakhstan's share also rose to around 8%,
with Russia and Iran the other major producers.
The research gives a rare glimpse into
global trends of bitcoin mining, amid increasing worries from the likes of
Tesla TSLA.O over how the cryptocurrency is produced.
The decline in Chinese mining power came
ahead of a crackdown by China's state council, or cabinet, on bitcoin mining
and trading in late May, citing underlying financial risks.
Anhui, in eastern China, became this week
the latest province to announce a sweeping ban on cryptocurrency mining.
Major Chinese mining hubs including
Sichuan, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang have all issued detailed measures since to
root out the business, paralysed the mining industry as miners dump machines or
move to places including Texas or Kazakhstan.
Bitmain, China's biggest maker of
cryptocurrency mining machines, last month halted sales following Beijing's
mining ban, and said it was looking for power supplies overseas in places
including the United States, Russia and Kazakhstan. -Reuters