Recent data reveals a surprising trend in the Bitcoin mining sector: Chinese miners continue to control the lion’s share of the world’s hash rate of the BTC network despite the country banning the practice in 2021.
Chinese Bitcoin Mining Pools Control A Staggering 55% Of Hash Rate
China sought to completely ban Bitcoin mining within its territory, but a couple of years later, Bitcoin continues to hum along—and it’s stronger than it’s ever been. Even more interesting is that Chinese miners have continued to dominate Bitcoin’s hashing power.
According to on-chain data shared by CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju, Chinese mining pools currently control at least 55% of the global Bitcoin mining network.
“Chinese mining pools operate 55% of the network, while U.S. pools manage 40%. U.S. pools primarily cater to institutional miners in America, while Chinese pools support relatively smaller miners in Asia,” Young Ju said in a Sept. 23 post on X.
However, the pundit noted that BTC mining dominance is gradually shifting to mining pools in the United States.
China’s surprising dominance comes despite the country issuing a nationwide blanket ban on crypto mining in 2021, a move that devastated the industry there and forced many miners to flee overseas.
China Set To Unban Bitcoin In 2024?
There have been murmurs this year that China might finally lift its long-standing ban on Bitcoin. Since Hong Kong approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), these rumors have gotten louder.
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz previously revealed that he had been hearing reports indicating China could unban Bitcoin by late 2024.
“If this is true, and it’s the second time I’ve heard in weeks, it’s a huge deal,” Novogratz postulated at the time.
Tron founder Justin Sun fueled the rumors last month, stating, “China unbans crypto. What’s the best meme for this?”
If China does in fact lift the stringent regulations, it would likely trigger a huge price upsurge. However, some industry commentators have expressed doubt about Xi Jinping’s potential u-turn on Bitcoin. Only time will tell if Bitcoin in China will be unbanned.
The pioneer crypto is currently trading above $63,388, according to CoinGecko data, up 0.2% on-day.