China has been very effective in its cryptocurrency ban, successfully weeding out thousands of Bitcoin mining units and putting people behind bars for involvement with cryptocurrencies. Even top leaders of the CCP were accused of involvement with crypto and suspended from their positions. While many people may think that would be the end of China’s anti-crypto missions, the country has other plans.
China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced in mid-November that it planned to take action against state-run firms involved in digital currency extraction. To pursue this initiative, Chinese authorities have now reached the southernmost province, Hainan. However, China is taking a different approach this time since the concerned entities are only involved in cryptocurrency mining.
To discourage miners from continuing operations and to make it more difficult, China will impose a revised electricity rate for miners. Under the revised rates, miners will have to pay as much s 25% extra on every unit of electricity consumed. That would effectively slow down operations since it will be less profitable. As many experts are predicting, it would eventually mean an end to the remaining Chinese cryptocurrency mining units.
While other countries have opened up to cryptocurrencies, China has taken the opposite route. It is mainly due to the authoritarian nature of the Chinese government, where everything is centralized and regulated. Cryptocurrencies posed a major threat to the integrity of such a hierarchical structure. With any-mining operations in Hainan, we might be at the last phase of China’s crackdown on cryptocurrency.
