🇨🇳 Bitcoin miners in China are shutting down around 1.3 gigawatts of #التعدين operations in Xinjiang province amid scrutiny from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Bitcoin miners in Xinjiang are halting their operations amid government scrutiny, leading to the decommissioning of up to 100 EH/s (EH/s) of mining equipment, according to industry sources.

One member of Nano Labs' team wrote on December 14: “Computing power has decreased by 100 [EH/s] compared to yesterday… at least 400,000 devices have been shut down.”

According to Luxor’s hashrate index at the time of publication, the 7-day average hashrate dropped by 5.6% from 1,125 EH/s to 1,062 EH/s since December 12.

Blockspace confirmed the news through multiple industry sources. An anonymous source said, “Around 100 EH/s are being taken offline and undergoing a lengthy inspection process initiated by the central government.”

The source added, “If the likelihood of resuming operations remains low, miners may start liquidating the newest hydroelectric units as well as S19 XP devices in the region.” Many miners have voluntarily shut down their operations after an investigation by the Chinese Communist Party #البيتكوين CCP( into operators promoting their mining sites on social media platforms like TikTok and Rednote.

Kevin Chang, Asia head at Nakamoto Holdings and former vice president of Bitcoin mining conglomerate Foundry, indicated that the number of deployed Bitcoin mining machines could reach 500,000 units, consuming approximately 2 gigawatts of power for the devices and related infrastructure.

Using the Antminer S19 as a baseline for operations in Xinjiang, Blockspace conservatively estimates that the shutdown could represent a reduction of between 1.3 and 1.63 gigawatts in Bitcoin mining capacity.

The Chinese government imposed a regional Bitcoin mining ban )province by province( in 2021, but a system of favoritism for those connected to the Chinese Communist Party has kept pockets of mining activity within the country. Luxor’s hashrate index estimates that Chinese miners still operate around 14% of the total Bitcoin hashrate.

Alongside the shutdowns in Xinjiang and their impact on the global Bitcoin hashrate, cold weather waves in the United States have strained electricity prices, prompting local Bitcoin miners to reduce their energy consumption.)$GT