China’s Inner Mongolian Region Propose to End Bitcoin Mining by April to Meet Carbon Emission Goals

The Mongolian province of China has proposed a new regulation to ban Bitcoin & crypto mining along with steel, coke, and methanol production by end of April in order to meet the carbon emission goals. The decision came after the province failed to meet Beijing’s energy efficiency goals and drew heavy criticism from the government.

Breaking: China's Inner Mongolia is demanding that all cryptocurrency mining projects be cleared by the end of April. Due to China's commitment to the world's carbon emission target in 2020, the mining of thermal power in Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang will be greatly affected. pic.twitter.com/iaAR5kWoBY

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 1, 2021

The draft bill read,

“(Inner Mongolia) will tighten its energy control measures and bear the targets throughout all economic and social aspects”

The bill also asserts on

“Reasonable and orderly control the scale of data center construction, and it is strictly forbidden to build new virtual currency mining projects.“

Mongolia is one of the inner provinces of China and a favorite for cryptocurrency miners because of the cheap electricity costs. It currently stands second in terms of crypto mining activity but many believe the tighter regulations around carbon emission would force many miners to move out of China.

Apart from Mongolia, the other three prominent crypto mining provinces Xinjiang, Sichuan and Yunnan had not issued any statements of the same tone. However, many industry insiders believe it would become more difficult for miners to set up stable mining operations in mainland China as the crackdown increases.

Increasing Crack Down on Crypto Mining Could Sprung Opportunities For Iran, Kazakhstan, and the US

China despite banning cryptocurrencies contribute more than 60% of mining hash power due to the availability of cheap clean energy in several provinces. China’s mining dominance has also been of great concern to many given the authoritarian state, and many US mining companies such as Riot, Marathon had started to come up over the past couple of years to compete with the Chinese mining industry and distribute Bitcoin mining hash power.

Countries such as Iran and Kazakhstan are also regulating crypto mining to lure mining farms to their countries by offering cheap electricity at subsidized prices.