Beijing Targets Cryptocurrency Mining Operations in New Energy Conservation Plan

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Beijing is prepared to apply a new policy to strengthen the actions to foster energy conservation in several aspects of the city’s operations, promoting carbon and pollution reduction. The plan proposes to increase the oversight level on Bitcoin mining activities, thwarting its remnants.

Beijing to Thwart Cryptocurrency Mining Activities in Energy Conservation Plan

The city of Beijing has revealed a new set of policies aimed at enhancing energy conservation, tackling several activities with measures focused on this end. The document states that the city considers energy conservation a “key area” to strengthen the conservation of energy resources and a requirement for building an ecological civilization.

Cryptocurrency mining is included among the activities that will be policed specifically to promote carbon reduction, pollution reduction, and the expansion of green energy alongside construction, transportation, industry, and information technology.

On the actions that will be taken regarding cryptocurrency mining activities, Beijing states that it will “continue to do a good job in rectifying virtual currency mining activities, strengthen the monitoring, analysis, and classified rectification of mining activities, and resolutely clean up the city’s virtual currency activities.”

These actions are supported by the national policy that imposed a blanket ban on cryptocurrency mining and trading in 2021 when the People’s Bank of China instructed all of China’s banks to forbid crypto-related activities immediately.

Nonetheless, even with this ban, recent reports have revealed that Bitcoin mining is still happening in China, with Chinese miners still providing 21% of the global network hashrate behind the U.S., which leads with 38%.

Beijing’s plan also contemplates inspections in energy-consuming units in the city to supervise the usage of phased-out equipment due to its energy requirements. These inspections could lead to punishment for the illegal use of energy, as the city’s government will take action to force industries and companies to rectify these issues.

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