Hebei is the latest China province to wield the crypto crackdown hammer

Published at: Sept. 14, 2021

Hebei, a province in Northern China, is its latest jurisdiction to read the riot act to crypto miners and traders.

According to Reuters on Tuesday, the province's cyberspace commission has announced plans to curtail cryptocurrency mining and trading activities in the region.

The move is in tandem with a broader anti-crypto policy in China that has seen most of the country's cryptocurrency mining establishment forced to relocate overseas. Indeed, these measures resulted in the largest hash rate drop in Bitcoin history as several miners were forced to go offline temporarily.

In a statement by the commission quoted by Reuters, authorities in the province stated: "Cryptocurrency mining consumes an enormous amount of energy, which is against China’s "carbon neutral" goal."

As part of the crypto mining ban, the Hebei cyberspace commission has enjoined all relevant government stakeholders in the province, including the education, public security, communications and financial regulators, to participate in the crackdown efforts.

These departments will reportedly have until Sept. 30 to verify that their respective information systems are not supporting illegal crypto mining and trading operations.

The commission's statement also included plans for whistleblowers and other members of the general public to come forward with useful information about illegal cryptocurrency mining and trading activities.

The robust monitoring of compliance with the anti-crypto measures will reportedly commence in October.

Related: Death knell for Chinese crypto miners? Rigs on the move after gov’t crackdown

China's crypto mining ban has resulted in a significant East-West hash power migration that could see North American miners command a greater share of the global hash rate distribution.

Several crypto mining establishments in Canada and the United States are upscaling their capacity with significant hardware purchases from major cryptocurrency miner makers like MicroBT and Bitmain.

The growth of the North American crypto mining market has also seen serious discussions around "green mining" with some participants committing to sustainable operations.

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