Foreign media reported that China's lifting of the ban on Bitcoin mining was just a misunderstanding (Opinion)

Wu said author | Colin Wu

Editor of this issue | Colin Wu

On the 25th, overseas media and big Vs suddenly started to spread the news: China is going to lift the ban on Bitcoin mining, which even caused some domestic industry insiders to be confused and skeptical.

The core sources are these two news:

one:

On October 21, the official website of the National Development and Reform Commission stated that in accordance with the relevant work arrangements for the rectification of virtual currency "mining" activities, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with relevant departments, has revised the "Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2019 Edition)" and is now soliciting public opinions. In the announcement of the National Development and Reform Commission on October 8th on soliciting public opinions on the "Negative List for Market Access (2021 Edition)", the last page of the revision of the relevant measures of the "Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment", in the elimination category "I. Outdated production process equipment" (XVIII) Other Item 7, the revised measure description adds: virtual currency "mining" activities. (In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission included virtual currency mining in the draft, but eventually deleted it. Therefore, some people interpret this meeting as "copying the gourd")

two:

On October 20, the National Development and Reform Commission reprinted the news that the United States surpassed China to become the largest Bitcoin mining country: According to a report on the website of the Financial Times on October 13, new data showed that two months after Beijing banned cryptocurrency mining activities, the United States surpassed China to become the world's largest source of Bitcoin mining activities. Data published by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance Research showed that between May and July this year, China's share of global computing power (i.e., the computing power required for Bitcoin mining activities) fell from 44% to zero. In 2019, China's share of global computing power was 3/4. The report said that the United States' share of global computing power rose from 17% in April to 35% in August. At the same time, Kazakhstan's share rose by 10 percentage points to 18%. (This news seems to be interpreted as China beginning to regret the outflow of Bitcoin mining to the United States)

This kind of "external perspective" actually does not need much comment. Even serious overseas media have not reported it. But there are still people in China who believe it. That is too politically insensitive.

In 2020, China officially announced its carbon neutrality and carbon peak goals to the world. However, the pressure of carbon emissions and limiting energy use was far from what it was in 2019 (hence the situation of putting it in and taking it out). Regardless of the actual situation, and no one knows what happened internally, the fact is that in 2021, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining have been placed on the opposite side of the top political task of carbon neutrality by traditional public opinion and decision makers. It is easy to imagine what the outcome will be.

Please see the commentary in the Economic Daily on October 24: "In the process of adjusting its industrial structure, my country has eliminated a number of "outdated production processes and equipment", which often have one or more of the following characteristics: high energy consumption, high pollution, high harm (causing power shortages), and low output. As for "mining", all four are true. It is not unfair to say that "mining" is backward." Although this slogan-like article has many loopholes (for example, where is the pollution of hydropower mining? Does the power shortage occur before or after the cleanup?), we can hardly see any different voices in the traditional public opinion field.

As for the reposted news, it is mostly just a repost by a low-level website editor, and there is not only one meaning from different perspectives. Industry insiders feel sorry, and even some decision makers feel sorry. But perhaps the decision makers feel that this has achieved the goal of cleaning up. Some Weibo users may think that there is nothing to be proud of for the United States to be number one, and that we are shifting the disaster to the west, making the United States "suffer the consequences of Bitcoin."

In short, the current reality is that under the siege of the dragnet, even companies like Filecoin, which were once extremely bold, no longer have any fluke mentality and have gone overseas. Although there are some regrets, we must admit that China, once the absolute hegemon of the world's crypto mining industry, will completely withdraw from this industry in the foreseeable short term. No one can predict when the change will happen, but it will definitely not be too fast.

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