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Bitcoin miners in China’s Yunnan province have decried yet another crackdown by government authorities targeted at their activities. This time, it is reported that electricity producers have been ordered to cut off power supply to crypto mines located in the province.
Yunnan is the third largest province in China by Bitcoin hash rate. On a global rating, Yunnan is responsible for 5.24% of the total Bitcoin hash rate. This statistic ranks it above every other localized region of the world except China, the United States, Russia, and Kazakhstan.
Making public this report, Colin Wu, a renowned Chinese crypto reporter posted on his Twitter handle that several miners had told him about the incident. Wu supported his claim by sharing a scanned copy of the document issued to the electricity producers instructing them to cease the supply of electricity to the Yunnan crypto mines.
Several miners told Wu that Baoshan, Yunnan, where China’s crypto mines are located, received a ban on November 30, requiring the power station to stop supplying power to the miners. Yunnan is the third largest mining place in China after Sichuan and Xinjiang. pic.twitter.com/1zAhcTLmXi
— Wu Blockchain(Chinese Crypto Reporter) (@WuBlockchain) November 30, 2020
While giving credence to the ban, Wu also made certain to clarify that this ban is likely born out of local economic interests, rather than political pressure. This in some way would exonerate the Chinese government which has been in the news very often in recent times as a result of its resistance towards certain aspects of the cryptocurrency industry.
Wu says;
There is no need to overestimate the impact of this incident. The attitude of China local power companies towards crypto mining is often changing. It is more a demand for economic interests than political pressure
Earlier in 2020, the Yunnan government shutdown 64 mining operations for reasons of unauthorization. This included seven that were still being constructed at the time. Tax evasion, security risk and infrastructural reasons were also alleged by the authorities at the time in support of their actions.
The infrastructural reasons had to do with how the mines were connected to local hydropower stations. Perhaps, this was prompted during the investigation of the explosion that happened on May 29, 2020 which killed six people and injured five others. Shortly after that explosion, there was a fire outbreak in a Bitcoin mine in the same province, as a result of which thousands of mining units were destroyed.
In June 2020, 8BTC reported about the document that was issued by Yunnan authorities, warning electricity producers about the diversion of power to Bitcoin mines. This recent ban or instruction to electricity producers could be as a follow up to an already existing issue. Perhaps this time around, a more permanent solution may be sought and every underlying issues resolved completely.
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