The crackdown of Bitcoin mining in China has significantly reduced the hash rate in the country, falling from more than 75% to 46% of the global total.
However, this could also set off ripple effects that may exacerbate the overall impact that Bitcoin mining has on the environment.
The crackdown has led many Bitcoin miners to move their base of operation elsewhere. However, there is a catch — the alternatives might not be clean as China.
The Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan has taken the third place in its share of global hash rate, with China and the US taking the lead. Kazakhstan mostly relies on fossil fuels as its source of energy, accounting for 87% of its total electricity supply. The mining hash rate in the country has increased from 1.4% in September 2019 to 8.2% in April 2021.
As for Digiconomist overseer Alex de Vries, he stated that the amount of hydropower used in China for Bitcoin mining is enough to counterbalance the effect of coal-powered Bitcoin mining in China and other parts of the world.
The crackdown in China eliminates one of the few major clean Bitcoin production areas in the world, worsening Bitcoin’s impact on global warming in the long run as more turn to coal instead.
