One less major market will be mining bitcoin, and that could be a boon for the dying peer-to-peer decentralized cryptocurrency.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China’s state planner, will be eliminating bitcoin mining in the world’s second-largest economy, according to a draft list of industrial activities the organization wants to stop.
As part of increasing pressure from the federal government, the NDRC will seek public opinions to restrict or eliminate cryptocurrency mining.
Beijing is presently the biggest market for computer hardware that is meant to mine bitcoin and other digital currencies. This has been happening, despite activities falling under hefty regulations.
Some industry insiders do not think this should be a cause to panic because China may simply want to “reboot” its cryptocurrency industry.
“The NDRC’s move is in line overall with China’s desire to control different layers of the rapidly growing crypto industry, and does not yet signal a major shift in policy,” said Jehan Chu, managing partner at blockchain investment firm Kenetic. “I believe China simply wants to ‘reboot’ the crypto industry into one that they have oversight on, the same approach they took with the Internet.”
Others say it was a matter of time because bitcoin mining wastes a lot of electricity.
At the of this writing, bitcoin is up 0.06 percent to $5,197.69, which is still way below its peak of $19,000.
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