US overtakes China as biggest bitcoin mining hub after Beijing ban

US overtakes China as biggest bitcoin mining hub after Beijing ban

The US overtook China as the world’s biggest source of bitcoin mining two months after Beijing banned crypto mining this year, new data has revealed.

China’s share of the global hashrate — the computational power required to create bitcoin — fell from 44 per cent to zero between May and July, figures published by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance on Wednesday showed. The country accounted for three-quarters of the global hashrate in 2019.

The US share of the global hashrate increased from 17 per cent in April to 35 per in August, while Kazakhstan rose 10 per cent to 18 per cent in the same period.

China’s State Council, or cabinet, banned cryptocurrency mining and trading in May, citing environmental and financial concerns. The decision prompted an exodus of miners in search of cheap energy and crypto-friendly politicians.

China’s bitcoin mining ban resulted in the “great mining migration” said Sam Tabar, chief strategy officer at Bit Digital, a New York-based bitcoin miner. The company suspended its operations in China, which it had been winding down since October 2020, after the prohibition.

Michel Rauchs, digital assets lead at the closely watched Cambridge tracker, noted that “the effect of the Chinese crackdown is an increased geographic