Bitcoin (BTC) mining is apparently making a strong comeback in China. That was reported by Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance on May 17.
Bitcoin miners in China come back to work
China’s share of the total hash rate, or computing power, of the Bitcoin network still came in at a whopping 75% in 2019, according to CBECI. By last year, shortly before the ban took effect, China’s hash rate had fallen below 50%, and shortly after the ban, it dropped all the way to 0%.
A few months later, between September 2021 and January 2021, the hash rate in China was already above 20%, the researchers report. Although these are new figures, the CBECI data only runs through January of this year.
According to these estimates, the United States now holds the largest share of the hash rate, at 37.84%. Then follows China with 21.11%. Kazakhstan comes in third with 13.22%, then Canada with 6.48% and Russia with 4.66%.
📣📣New CBECI update shows US has extended its share of global hashrate to 37.84%, with China resurgent to second largest with 21.11%
For 1st time, update provides state-by-state granularity of US market share
Read details of update in blogpost at https://t.co/v2HzliQsrw pic.twitter.com/KlWr5dVTKV
— Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance CJBS (@CambridgeAltFin) May 17, 2022
Bitcoin mining underworld in China
The researchers report that the recovery in China strongly suggests that an “underground” or illegal mining circuit has emerged in the country. This bitcoin-mining underworld should then operate out of sight of the government.
That means they are likely to be many small operations. They will also not be connected to the national power grid and may keep their consumption low to avoid being noticed. According to an anonymous miner, there is also a heavy use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs).
Since the figures are only up to January, the share might even have grown by now. The total hash rate of the Bitcoin network reached an all-time high earlier this month with a peak of about 250 exahashes per second (EH/s).