China has told its state-owned enterprises to get out of cryptocurrency mining and is considering imposing punitive measures in the form of higher power prices on companies that continue to defy a government ban as bitcoin trades near record highs.
The Chinese National Development and Reform Commission plans to crack down on industrial-scale bitcoin mining, as well as any involvement by state companies in the activity, Meng Wei (孟瑋), a spokeswoman for the nation’s chief economic planner, told a news conference yesterday.
Last week, the commission held a special meeting on the issue, and it is putting a bigger onus on provinces and municipalities to investigate and clean up state-owned enterprises involved in mining.
Beijing has this year cracked down hard on bitcoin miners, saying that they are to blame for everything from energy waste to deadly coal mining accidents as the government strives to meet its carbon-neutral goals.
Concern over the country’s power supplies for the upcoming winter season was one reason for an intensified campaign against miners in September, when officials were said to have gone after those who tried to disguise themselves as data researchers and storage facilities to stay in business.
Since then, coal prices have collapsed, making the effects of punitive prices on the cost of electricity less clear.
Cryptocurrencies yesterday fell, with bitcoin sliding toward US$60,000 and ether touching one of its lowest levels this month. Bitcoin has more than doubled this year, while ether is up about sixfold.
Bitcoin, the largest digital token, was yesterday down almost 5 percent to US$60,971.56 in Hong Kong trading, while second-ranked ether slid as much as 6.8 percent.
Global crypto market capitalization has dropped about 7 percent in the past 24 hours to US$2.8 trillion, tracker CoinGecko said.
“We’ve seen the US infrastructure bill get signed, which has initiated a sell-off from traders who are concerned about regulation and taxation,” said Hayden Hughes, chief executive officer of Alpha Impact, a platform that allows investors to copy the strategies of other crypto traders.
He also cited concerns about China continuing its regulatory crackdown.
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