9th June, 2021
China has shut down Bitcoin miners in Xinjiang province, one of the major economic and technological development zones in the country.
The Reform and Development Commission in the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture in Xinjiang issued a notice on Wednesday to its subordinate government officials in the Zhundong Economic Technological Development Park.
According to the notice seen and verified by The Block, officials in the development park have been instructed to shut down all crypto mining activities under their administration by 2:00 pm China time on Wednesday.
The park is a 15,500 square km area home to a variety of coal production industries including coal-based power plants and industrial factories. It also houses some of the largest bitcoin mining facilities in the country due to the high capacity of fossil fuel energy.
The instruction was based on the high-level bitcoin trading and mining crackdown comment brought up during the China State Council meeting last month, the notice said.
The notice cited the “Measures for the Energy Conservation Examination of Fixed-Asset Investment Projects” passed by China’s National Reform and Development Commission as the relevant ordinance for government officials to carry out the order.
Though it is hard to pinpoint how much energy capacity exactly is powering up bitcoin mining operations in the Changji Prefecture, the Zhundong development park is known for being a major bitcoin mining hub in Xinjiang with predominantly fossil fuel energy.