China Loses Grip on BTC Mining, Kazakhstan Rises Up the Ranks

The Chinese crackdown on crypto mining had a drastic impact on the Bitcoin network’s hashrate input. A recent study conducted by Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) highlighted that China started seeing a drop in Bitcoin mining share even before the recent crackdown began. As per data, the mining share of China had already fallen by nearly 30% in April, before the real crackdown and shut down of large mining farms began in May.

CCAF data revealed China’s Bitcoin mining share fell from 75.5% in September 2019 to 46% in April 2021. This percentage has only dipped further after an intensive crackdown on crypto mining in May that saw top mining hubs in the country like Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang put a blanket ban on crypto mining. Some reports insisted 90% of Bitcoin mining operations in China were shut down by July.

Another factor that proves a majority of Bitcoin mining operations in China are shut now is the negligible effect on hash power due to the ongoing flooding situation in China. Every year the flooding in mining farms has led to a sharp decline in network hashrate, but due to the exodus of miners this bull season, there are not enough mining farms operational to impact the Bitcoin network.

Some of the biggest mining farms in China had to shut their operations and relocate to other nations. North America, Russia, and Kazakhstan have emerged as a growing choice for these migrant miners.

Kazakhstan Now Third Biggest Contributor to Bitcoin Network Hashrate

The exodus of Bitcoin miners from China has resolved two major issues with the Bitcoin network, first, it has disintegrated the large concentration of miners in one place leading to much necessary decentralization in mining activity. Second, it has made the Bitcoin network more renewable as migrant miners are moving to countries where clean energy is available in surplus.

Among several choices for miners to relocate, Kazakhstan has emerged as the popular choice for a significant portion of these Bitcoin miners. The country has seen a six-fold rise in mining share in one year, rising from 1.4% in September 2019 to 8.2% in April. This share is believed to have risen further after the May crackdown.

China’s crypto crackdown might have had a short-term impact on the Bitcoin network hashrate, but it has shown a strong comeback as well rising above 100E over the past few days, after falling to 65E in June.