On April 20 the Municipal Economic and Information Bureau and the Municipal Development and Reform Commission of Ya’an announced an opinion statement on local crypto mining implementation. The document encourages the consumption of hydropower-generated electricity for mining operations.
Chinese officials from the city of Ya’an in Sichuan have come out in support of using locally produced hydropower for cryptocurrency mining operations.
The document stated that the municipality will build a «hydropower consumption demonstration zone» and «big data industry gathering area.» Officials believe the province will thus attract investment and development in blockchain companies.
Cryptocurrency mining in China
China is known to be a major player in the cryptocurrency mining industry. According to a report released at the end of 2019, Chinese Bitcoin miners were at the time responsible for as much as 66% of the global hash rate, with 54% coming from the province of Sichuan.
Still – after the coronavirus pandemic struck the country – China recently started losing ground in the cryptocurrency mining space. As Cointelegraph reported earlier this month, Baite – the former top Chinese Bitcoin mining pool – decided to leave the Bitcoin mining business.
Furthermore, aging hardware is also taking its toll on the local mining enterprises, Recently the Chinese publication Securities Daily reported that over 40 mining operations were forced to stop their activity due to the fact that the now-old Antminer S9s Bitcoin mining ASICS were no longer profitable to operate.
Coronavirus Controls in China Are Delaying Crypto Miner Deliveries, Firms Say
Two leading manufacturers of crypto mining hardware notified customers their shipments would be delayed at least a week because of the coronavirus quarantine in China.
This week MicroBT, Bitmain and Canaan notified customers the application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) they ordered would not be immediately sent, as the Chinese government extended New Year holiday hours due to the outbreak, according to Artem Eremin, product manager of the ASIC retailer 3Logic.
MicroBT published a notice on WeChat referencing a decision made by the Guangdong provincial government to extend the Chinese New Year holiday through Feb. 9, an additional week.
«The production, delivery, after-sales service, and send and receive documents and other arrangements» would be delayed as a result, MicroBT’s notice said.
Eremin told CoinDesk that Bitmain and Canaan sent similar notices to customers.
The virus has reportedly killed 170 people, with more than 7,700 infected worldwide.
Chinese Mining Giant Canaan to Go Public in US in November
Chinese crypto mining giant Canaan Creative plans to list as a publicly traded company in the United States in November 2019, according to an unconfirmed report.
Canaan to issue 1.26 billion shares
Canaan Creative, which reportedly filed a $200 million initial public offering (IPO) request with the U.S. regulators in July, will issue 1.26 billion shares which will be closed on Oct. 20, Chinese crypto outlet 8BTC reported Oct. 10, citing “people with knowledge of the matter.”
The firm reportedly declined to comment on the news to 8BTC at the time of publication.
Additionally, the company has allegedly completed all preliminary procedures for its IPO and is planning to reach a valuation from $2 billion to $3 billion, the report notes.
One of three Chinese mining giants
As reported, Canaan is one of the three major Chinese crypto mining companies alongside Bitmain and Yibang International. If successful, Canaan could become the first China-based mining firm to launch public trading in the U.S. Canaan’s major competitor, Bitmain, reportedly filed to list an IPO with the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission in June 2019, following the expiration of its IPO listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in March.
According to 8BTC, Canaan co-chairman Jianping Kong claimed weeks ago that the SEC has a very good understanding of blockchain and cryptocurrency, noting a significant potential for compliant industry firms to go public in the U.S.
