‘Unintentional giveaway’: US tackles China’s bitcoin breach

The operation in the quiet town of Rockdale was part of an already bustling US venture – now spurred by the intensified crypto crackdown from Beijing that has pushed the industry west.

“There are a lot of competitors who come to Texas because they see the same thing (like) when we came here,” said Chad Everett Harris, CEO of Miner Whinstone, which operates the company-owned Rockdale site. American Riot Blockchain.

Figures released on Wednesday by the University of Cambridge showed activity in the United States more than doubled in the four months to the end of August, bringing the market share held by the world’s largest economy to 35.4 %.

“China’s ban on bitcoin mining was essentially an unintentional giveaway to the United States,” he said. “With their ban, a whole industry has migrated to North America, along with innovation, manpower and machinery.”

“If you want to make long-term investments and build wealth in a country, you want to have some assurance that it won’t be removed by the government,” said David Yermack, a crypto expert at the University of New York. York.

He expected the move to the United States to be temporary, saying places like the Nordic countries have cheap and plentiful renewables, as well as plenty of cold weather to cool hot-running mining machines. .

A continued backlash has been fueled by concerns that the industry is relying on carbon-emitting energy sources that contribute to climate change.

According to ERCOT data for 2020, around 46% of its electricity came from natural gas, while wind and solar combined 25% with coal at 18%.

“In principle, they can buy electricity when it is cheaper and not buy it when it is more expensive,” she said.

Tabar, of the Bit Digital miner, said his company had a site in Buffalo, New York, which was one of the country’s major manufacturing centers, but lost jobs and prosperity as production work s ‘is being moved to places like China.

str-jm / st / mdl

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