China Is World's 2nd Largest Bitcoin Mining Nation Despite Ban, Data Shows

Despite a blanket ban on cryptocurrency in China, many Chinese citizens continue to mine Bitcoin illegally, according to data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI).

What Happened: The data showed that China became the second-largest Bitcoin BTC/USD hash rate provider as of January. This came despite the local government banning all operations related to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum ETH/USD, and Dogecoin DOGE/USD in the country.

The data further showed that the Bitcoin miners in the Xi Jinping-led country accounted for 21.1% of the total global Bitcoin mining hash rate distribution as of early 2022. The U.S. led the highest BTC mining at 37.8% of the total hash rate as of January, up from 4.1% in September 2019.

CBECI report is based on data obtained in collaboration with four major mining pools, BTC.com, Poolin, ViaBTC, and Foundry.

China was once the world’s largest Bitcoin mining country, with the BTC hash rate power accounting for more than 75% in 2019, according to CBECI. The hash rate then plummeted to 0% around July 2021, following a series of crypto mining farm shutdowns in the nation.

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, Bitcoin was trading at $30,264, down 0.34% over 24 hours. Ethereum was trading at $2,070, down 0.31% over the same period.