China's government crackdown on Bitcoin (BTC) drove lucrative businesses out of the country and helped make the US a hub for Bitcoin mining.
According to the Electricity Consumption Index, which provides a real-time estimate of the total electricity consumption of the Bitcoin network, mining activity in China has dropped to zero, according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CEBCI).
Relocation routes
CBECI data collection began in September 2019, when China's share reached 75%. Over time, as a result of increased efforts by Beijing to restrict the cryptocurrency market, China's fixed share of bitcoin mining has actually dropped to zero.
Meanwhile, the US has become the new hub for bitcoin mining in the world. According to CBECI, the country's share in global production increased from 16.8% in April 2021 to 35.4% in August.
After the United States, Kazakhstan has become the second country to attract the largest share of redistributed operations, its share currently stands at 18.1%, up from 8.2% in April 2021 before the exit of Bitcoin miners from China.
Russia became the third place of migration, the share of hashrate of which increased from 6.8% to 11.2%.
Outflow from China
The CEBCI dataset has empirically documented seasonal hashrate migration in mainland China, as miners in the country periodically moved from more stable coal regions such as Xinjiang, where they were based during the dry months, to areas with temporary surplus of cheap hydropower like Sichuan. during the rainy season.
Since the government took harsh measures against the mining industry in June 2021, there has been no data, and internal migration is a thing of the past. While the data does not suggest a complete curtailment of activity in China, the likelihood that hidden mining is still taking place in the country persists as a recent suspicious increase in hash rates was found in two European countries, presumably including Ukraine. Their share, according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, has grown significantly due to IP redirection using VPN or proxy services.
