Bitcoin mining is seeing a significant revival in China, although the activity was formally banned in 2021, according to Reuters.
After all but disappearing from the global landscape, China has climbed back into third position with an estimated 14% share of global mining in October, according to the Hashrate Index.
This resurgence is driven by miners and companies quietly operating in regions with abundant and cheap electricity, particularly Xinjiang, where excess power and rapid data center construction create favorable conditions.
Miners told Reuters that surplus electricity in places like Xinjiang and Sichuan is encouraging new underground projects and some former miners have returned. Data provider CryptoQuant estimates that 15 to 20% of global mining capacity now operates in China.
According to the article, Canaan, a leading miner, has seen a strong rebound in domestic sales, helped by higher bitcoin prices and uncertainty over US tariffs that dampened overseas demand.
Although the Chinese government has not publicly reversed its stance, its approach appears to be softening. Hong Kong’s stablecoin legislation and discussions about yuan-backed stablecoins suggest a more flexible view of digital assets.
Hashprice hits all-time low
Bitcoin hash price fell to a new all time low on Friday. This metric represents the revenue a miner can expect to earn from a given amount of hashrate. According to Luxor, the hash price fell to $34.2 PH/s.
Hash price is determined by four main inputs, which are network difficulty, the price of bitcoin, the block grant, and transaction fees.
Hashprice generally moves higher when bitcoin price or fee volume increases, it decreases when mining difficulty increases.
With bitcoin down more than 30% since its peak in October, coupled with muted transaction fees and a network hashrate just above one zettahash (10% below recent highs), miner revenue has pushed to new lows. The next difficulty adjustment is due on Wednesday and is expected to drop by a little more than 2%.
