China has announced that it will be cracking down on bitcoin mining within the country. In an attempt to protect the country’s financial system while reducing carbon emissions.
The latest announcement from China comes during the same week that regulators announced that they would be banning digital tokens in financial transactions.
The latest developments from China indicate that the country is now looking to crack down on mining operations.
State Council’s Financial Stability and Development Committee chairman Vice-Premier Liu He commented on the move. Stating that the government will look to “crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior, and resolutely prevent the transfer of individual risks to the society.”
Crypto woes in China continue
The crackdown on mining operations comes as a big surprise. Especially considering China accounts for 65 per cent of the bitcoin hash rate. The announcement did not specify exact plans for the crackdown on mining operations.
However, chief research fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Li Yi believes the latest announcement could lead to further restrictions on bitcoin. “We should expect the relevant departments, including law enforcement, to come up with detailed measures to ban bitcoin mining in the near future” he said.
Earlier this week, China had announced that it would be banning financial institutions from participating in crypto services. The move comes a month after the Deputy Governor of China’s Central Bank (PBOC) stated that bitcoin is an “investment alternative.”
China continue to push CBDC adoption
China has seen its focus on its own central bank digital currency (CBDC) continue to grow over the past several months. The rapid expansion plans for the Digital Yuan has even caught the eye of the Biden administration.
The US is set to be keeping tabs on the CBDC. Which is currently leading the race in terms of CBDCs across the globe. While the US has yet to announce any plans to implement its own CBDC.