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China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

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Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#2
I’m not shocked to see this. I’m bullish on bitcoin overall, but at this point I believe the Geo-political risk caused by the insane power requirements of current day mining are the biggest danger to bitcoin as a whole.

Obviously the network and operate fine with less power, but if that reduction in hash rate occurs because most of the world has banned mining, you can imagine a situation where the remaining miners can much more easily centralize and control the network.

On the other hand, with China already home to > 70% of mining (per this article), perhaps it’s more surprising this hasn’t happened already.

Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#3
I suspect this has more to do with Chinese internal politics ("We're tired of spending money on industries in Inner Mongolia that aren't part of the national industrial plan or whatever we're calling it this week") than anything to do with the environment. They still added a lot of coal plants last year. They just want to spend the resulting power on something other than businesses in Inner Mongolia.

Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#4

I’m not shocked to see this. I’m bullish on bitcoin overall, but at this point I believe the Geo-political risk caused by the insane power requirements of current day mining are the biggest danger to bitcoin as a whole. Obviously the network and operate fine with less power, but if that reduction in hash rate occurs because most of the world has banned mining, you can imagine a situation where the remaining miners ca…

As someone living in the European Union I'd be extremely surprised if bitcoin isn't taxed/regulated to death within 1-2 years here. The recent price increase will attract the attention of governments sceptical of assets they don't understand (they don't understand it, but they want a piece of it), and they will get loud support from the environmentalists who are alarmed by the reports making the rounds ("more power than Argentina", "more power than The Netherlands") etc.

Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#5

I suspect this has more to do with Chinese internal politics ("We're tired of spending money on industries in Inner Mongolia that aren't part of the national industrial plan or whatever we're calling it this week") than anything to do with the environment. They still added a lot of coal plants last year. They just want to spend the resulting power on something other than businesses in Inner Mongolia.

It’s subsidized power and these “businesses” are effectively just reselling that power to foreigners at a markup. No government would want to participate in that.

Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#6

I suspect this has more to do with Chinese internal politics ("We're tired of spending money on industries in Inner Mongolia that aren't part of the national industrial plan or whatever we're calling it this week") than anything to do with the environment. They still added a lot of coal plants last year. They just want to spend the resulting power on something other than businesses in Inner Mongolia.

The problem with bitcoin mining is that they require very little human resource compare to other industries that requires similar amount of electricity. It's more likely the local government is concerned of employeement rate.

Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#7

I suspect this has more to do with Chinese internal politics ("We're tired of spending money on industries in Inner Mongolia that aren't part of the national industrial plan or whatever we're calling it this week") than anything to do with the environment. They still added a lot of coal plants last year. They just want to spend the resulting power on something other than businesses in Inner Mongolia.

It’s subsidized power and these “businesses” are effectively just reselling that power to foreigners at a markup. No government would want to participate in that.

Even worse, it supports easy capital flight by allowing miners to exchange Yuan for BTC and then dollars, euros, etc.

Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#9
post #4

I’m not shocked to see this. I’m bullish on bitcoin overall, but at this point I believe the Geo-political risk caused by the insane power requirements of current day mining are the biggest danger to bitcoin as a whole. Obviously the network and operate fine with less power, but if that reduction in hash rate occurs because most of the world has banned mining, you can imagine a situation where the remaining miners ca…

As someone living in the European Union I'd be extremely surprised if bitcoin isn't taxed/regulated to death within 1-2 years here. The recent price increase will attract the attention of governments sceptical of assets they don't understand (they don't understand it, but they want a piece of it), and they will get loud support from the environmentalists who are alarmed by the reports making the rounds ("more power t…

Crypto in general poses a problem for lots of governments. You want to avoid their control, they want to control you. They have manpower and violence, you have, at best, a network of willful individuals.

So either this is a tide that changes the whole world, or it's going to be harshly confronted. Doesn't matter that Tesla buys n bitcoins, or Microstrategy or whatever.

And I do have money on crypto. Not on bitcoin, not a lot, but that would against my interests too.

Re: China’s Bitcoin miners flee Inner Mongolia ahead of crypto mining ban

#10
post #4

I’m not shocked to see this. I’m bullish on bitcoin overall, but at this point I believe the Geo-political risk caused by the insane power requirements of current day mining are the biggest danger to bitcoin as a whole. Obviously the network and operate fine with less power, but if that reduction in hash rate occurs because most of the world has banned mining, you can imagine a situation where the remaining miners ca…

As someone living in the European Union I'd be extremely surprised if bitcoin isn't taxed/regulated to death within 1-2 years here. The recent price increase will attract the attention of governments sceptical of assets they don't understand (they don't understand it, but they want a piece of it), and they will get loud support from the environmentalists who are alarmed by the reports making the rounds ("more power t…

I would vote in the EU elections for almost any parliamentary group that makes this a priority. This is a perfect example of an issue where union-level decision making is required to curb a destructive activity.
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