Anhui, eastern Chinese province, has become the latest province to announce a sweeping ban on cryptocurrency mining. The move will help ease an acute power shortage over the next three years.
Anhui is facing a major supply shortage of electricity according to Hefei Media Group, a Chinese state-owned website. Anhui will “clean up and shut down” all crypto mining projects to avoid an imminent power shortage.
China’s National Energy Administration has warned that Anhui’s electricity demand will exceed its supply starting in 2022-2024, Hefei MediaGroup.
Anhui’s electricity demand will rise to 73.14 million KW in 2024. But the current supply of the province is only 48.4 million KW, suggesting a “relatively big gap,” according to the article.
China’s state council vowed to crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading in late May, citing underlying financial risks. Many provinces had long been hotspots for mining due to their abundance of energy, whether hydroelectric or fossil-fueled.
According to the Chinese Journalist Colin Wu, the Anhui ban appears to be brought by a notice from the State Grid Corporation of China. The State Grid is China’s national electricity provider and one of the largest in the world at that. Colin Wu also added that after Anhui, the provinces of Henan and Gansu will also ban mining.
The news comes amid a major regulatory crackdown on crypto mining in China. Major famous Chinese mining hubs, including Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang, have all issued a ban on cryotomining. Before the clamp-down, China accounted for roughly 70% of global Bitcoin production. Recently, many Chinese hydroelectric plants go on sale as crypto miners have to go abroad amid this crackdown.