China’s battle against Bitcoin continues. After the Beijing government announced last May that the “mining” activity, the process that allows the extraction of cryptocurrencies, consumes too much electricity and is therefore incompatible with the climate objectives that China has set itself, it was decided to expel all the “miners” operating in the country from the national territory. The “miners” or, indeed, miners, are those who manage and keep in operation the computer machinery used for the extraction of cryptocurrencies, powerful computers that, in addition to consuming large amounts of energy, generate a lot of heat and therefore need constant maintenance and a suitable place to be kept .
The crackdown against the mining it took place last Friday when the authorities of the Sichuan province ordered the closure of all companies involved in the extraction of cryptocurrencies. Other regions have also banned the mining: Xinjiang and the provinces of Qinghai and Yunnan. In Inner Mongolia, in addition to the ban, the population was asked to report the activities of mining illicit.
The hostile climate has led operators in the sector to consider the possibility of moving abroad together with their machines. In cryptocurrency circles there is already talk of a «great migration of miningAnd the destination the miners want to reach is Texas. The exodus is already underway and, as stated in an article by the CNBC, could transform the US state into the new global Bitcoin factory. Texas is very attractive in the eyes of miners thanks to the energy costs it offers, among the lowest in the world. In addition to this in the state, thanks to a deregulated market, customers are allowed to choose electricity suppliers and, more crucially, Texan leaders have a very lenient attitude towards fans of the cryptocurrency world.
“Divided” states
The massive introduction of highly “energy-intensive” machinery – it has been estimated that the Chinese industry of the mining in 2024 it could consume the same amount of energy as a state like Italy – it risks generating the same environmental impact problems as there were in China, as well as jeopardizing the functioning of local energy supply systems. Texas in recent months has been the protagonist of problems related to energy supply: during the winter there were repeated blackouts that involved millions of homes, which remained for days in the dark and cold due to the powerful snowstorms that hit area.
In addition to the practical problems, there are also protests from environmentalists. Earlier this year in upstate New York there was a dispute between local activists and a Connecticut firm that had converted an old natural gas-fired power plant into a Bitcoin “mine.” In light of this, the state of New York is considering enacting a law preventing the establishment of new Bitcoin mining centers that are not green.
But at the same time there are states that give incentives to those who want to undertake this activity. In March, Kentucky, a state rich in coal mines, passed a law offering tax deductions to “miners ” who invest at least a million dollars to install new machines for the mining.
Beyond the divergences between the various states, the cryptocurrency mining industry in the United States is set to grow, considering that investments in the sector tend to be increasingly large and, likely, will increase further, especially if the value of the Bitcoin will return to its highs, again exceeding 60 thousand dollars as happened last April. For now this does not seem to be the case, given that only today the most famous cryptocurrency in the world has lost almost 10% of its value, reaching around 32 thousand dollars. But you know, the cryptocurrency world is no stranger to surprising swings.