Explaining how China regained its Bitcoin mining share despite 2021 ban
Key Takeaways
What modified?
Regardless of the 2021 ban, there seems to be a softer stance now, alongside cheaper, considerable electrical energy.
What’s subsequent for China’s BTC mining?
At 14% market share, it may surpass Russia’s 15.5% if the restoration pattern continues.
In 2021, the Chinese language authorities banned crypto and mining, citing monetary instability and power dangers. It pressured key Chinese language gamers to flee to different areas and eliminated the nation from international rankings.
Nevertheless, miners are again, and China is now ranked third, with the nation commanding 145 EH/s of Bitcoin’s hashrate. Russia is second with 15.5%, and the U.S tops the record with a 37.8% market share or 389 EH/s of the worldwide hashrate.
Supply: Hashrate Index
What’s driving the mining restoration?
In keeping with a Reuters report, the restoration, regardless of the ban nonetheless being in place, was pushed by BTC’s huge rally in 2025 and pro-crypto insurance policies underneath the Trump administration.
One of many mining rig producers advised Reuters that low cost electrical energy and available computational sources additionally contributed to the Chinese language mining resurgence.
“Moreover larger bitcoin costs, a glut of electrical energy and computing energy following over-investment in knowledge facilities by some cash-strapped Chinese language native governments fuelled the rebound.”
For perspective, Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive course of that requires specialised computer systems (rigs) to resolve advanced puzzles and discover a block, incomes the miner a reward in BTC. In consequence, areas with comparatively cheaper electrical energy have attracted mining operations.
The report additionally famous that mining rig gross sales have been dominated by Chinese language consumers, additional supporting the robust rebound.
Canaan, the second-largest producer of BTC mining rigs, generated 30% of its international income from China in 2024. In 2022, the identical nation solely accounted for two.2%.
One other telltale signal was a 50% surge in Canaan gross sales in Q2 2025. It additional prompt that BTC’s worth restoration from $74k in April to a document excessive of $126k by October may have been a catalyst for China’s mining restoration.
Supply: Hashrate Index
That being stated, This autumn’s drawdown additionally dragged the Hashprice Index, which tracks miners’ incomes potential per hashrate. It fell from $49 to a yearly low of $34 earlier than a gentle restoration to $36. By extension, this might have an effect on miner profitability and will set off “chaos” for BTC mining.
