Following the recent adoption of blockchain technology by China’s President Xi, there have been several encouraging developments in China’s formal relationship with technology. On October 27, China’s central bank began calling on privately held financial institutions to accelerate the pace of blockchain technology adoption. On October 30th, a new propaganda campaign in support of blockchain technology began to emerge on popular social media channels in China. Now comes the news that there has been a reversal within China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) that has abandoned previously signaled plans to end Bitcoin mining in the country.
A draft published in April earlier this year called for inter-industry mining, which Beijing wanted local governments to eliminate. It recommended that local governments phase out bitcoin mining from the country, which is estimated to be half of bitcoin’s global hashing power. The final version of the recommendations, due to take effect January 1, 2020, has removed Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency mining activities from the list of industries that should be restricted or removed from the country. The final version replaces the current version published in 2011.
The revision comes after months of public consultations on the subject. It’s not entirely surprising that China has reversed its course as it dominates the market in terms of mining hash power. At an earlier NDRC press conference, officials said since the first draft was released; The agency has received over 2,500 suggestions on various topics, most of which have been considered, although officials have not commented on any particular advice related to Bitcoin mining.
Founded in 1998, the NDRC is one of the 26 cabinet-level departments that make up the State Council of China’s central government. The state economic planning agency published its final recommendations on national industry restructuring that excluded any mention of bitcoin mining. The NDRC serves as the federal macroeconomic planning authority. Its recommendations are designed to help local authorities understand how to distribute the funds across different industries.
The news comes just weeks after China’s central government passed a new cryptography law. China has long favored blockchain over Bitcoin, but easing mining is having a positive impact on the market. This year’s recovery in the crypto market made Bitcoin SV mining profitable again. Thanks to the services of platforms such as the Mempool, anyone can participate in Bitcoin mining without having to operate mining equipment.
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