Hebei province has become the latest region in China to crack down on digital currency block reward mining. The cyberspace administration in the northern Chinese province has started a special campaign targeting the miners, stating they go against China\u2019s goal of becoming carbon neutral.<\/p>\n
China has continued to ramp up efforts against block reward mining in recent months. Some of the provinces that were mining havens such as\u00a0Sichuan, Xinjiang and\u00a0Yunnan\u00a0have taken major steps to boot out the miners from China, leading to shutdowns and relocations to other countries. According to local reports, Hebei has now joined the bandwagon.<\/p>\n
The cyberspace administration in Hebei, which is in Northern China and borders the capital Beijing, has cited environmental and financial concerns for booting out the miners. It has ordered state-owned companies and government agencies to audit their systems to ensure that no such activity is being conducted covertly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Financial regulators and internet service providers must also do more to stamp out the miners, it stated, as\u00a0reported\u00a0by Reuters. This includes stepping up the collection of reports from the public and whistle-blowers. They were given until the end of September to get the measures in place, with the administration revealing that those caught mining starting in October will be punished accordingly.<\/p>\n
In a statement this week, the cyberspace administration remarked, \u201cMining cryptocurrency consumes huge amounts of energy, which goes against China\u2019s carbon neutral peak objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
It sounded a warning on the impact that digital currencies could have on Hebei and China if left unchecked, \u201cIts exchange and transaction are highly disruptive to the nation\u2019s financial order, and the financial risk is big \u2026 Its proliferation and spread will seriously affect economic and social development, and directly threaten national security,\u201d the cyberspace administration added.<\/p>\n
And it doesn\u2019t end there for China. According to\u00a0Bloomberg, the government is now targeting miners who disguise themselves as research institutions and data centers. Citing sources who requested for anonymity, the outlet revealed that concerns over the country\u2019s power supply for the upcoming winter season is one of the reasons for the renewed urgency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Watch: CoinGeek Zurich panel, BSV is Green Bitcoin: Energy Consumption & Environmental Sustainability<\/p>\n