Share this article
Bitcoin Mining Appears to Have Survived Ban in China
From September 2021 to January of this year, China's contribution to the bitcoin mining network was second only to that of the U.S.
Updated May 11, 2023, 4:17 p.m. Published May 17, 2022, 9:23 a.m.
China is once again contributing a significant chunk of the world's bitcoin mining operations despite the ban last year, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF).
From September 2021 to January of this year, China's contribution to the bitcoin mining network was second only to that of the U.S., according to the CCAF's Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), which maps the mining activity around the world based on the geolocational data reported by partnering pools.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Following the crackdown on bitcoin mining in the country last year, China's share was reduced to 0% in July and August. However, the CCAF's latest data show that the figure was up to 22.29% in September and fluctuated around 20% in October-January.
This suggests that underground mining activity has been underway in China. “Access to off-grid electricity and geographically scattered small-scale operations are among the major means used by underground miners to hide their operations from authorities and circumvent the ban," the CCAF said in a statement.
The sudden drop to 0% in July and August followed by a swift increase in the subsequent months suggests mining firms may have been operating covertly and concealing their locations while using foreign proxy services to fend off attention and scrutiny.
Kazakhstan, for example, appeared to be one of the preferred destinations for miners. The Central Asian country's share of the network climbed above 18% in August last year, according to the CBECI.
By September, miners may have become assured that foreign proxy services were having their desired effect and they need not go to such lengths to conceal their operations in China.
Read more: The9 Buys Data Center in Kyrgyzstan to Host 7,500 Antminers
UPDATE (13:30 UTC May 17): Removes link to SCMP.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Pye Finance Raises $5M Seed Round Led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures
The platform aims to make locked Solana staking positions tradable via an onchain marketplace.
What to know:
- Pye Finance raised a $5 million seed round led by Variant and Coinbase Ventures, with participation from Solana Labs, Nascent and Gemini.
- The startup is building an onchain marketplace on Solana for time-locked staking positions that can be traded.
- Pye says the product targets Solana’s large pool of staked SOL, worth roughly $75 billion, and aims to give validators and stakers more flexibility over terms and reward flows.
Top Stories
