China continues crackdown on mining, wandering miners flock to Texas, US poised to control 50% of Bitcoin hashrate?

China has long accounted for more than 50% of Bitcoin's hash rate, but a series of bans this year may lead to a major migration of Bitcoin mining.

Foreign media CNBC interviewed many cryptocurrency professionals who believe that the outflow of Chinese miners could ultimately benefit the United States, including states like Texas with abundant solar and wind energy, as well as crypto-friendly Wyoming, potentially enabling them to control over 50% of the hash rate and gradually establish a cryptocurrency economic zone in the future.

The Dominance of China's Mining Industry

Historical data shows that the majority of Bitcoin hash rate is concentrated in China, accounting for 65.08% of the global total, with over half of it coming from the Xinjiang region alone, representing 35.76% of the global total hash rate.

However, after failing to meet energy-saving targets, the Chinese government blamed mining activities and initiated a series of regulatory crackdowns.

Co-founder of Castle Island Ventures, Nic Carter, stated:

It's unclear how China will proceed, but it seems that the window between policy statements and actual enforcement may be shorter, with 50% to 60% of the total network hash rate leaving China.

De La Torre, Vice President of mining pool Poolin, pointed out:

We don't want to face new bans from China every year, so we are working to make the mining landscape more diversified. That's why we are moving to the United States and Canada.

The Next Destination for Chinese Miners

As of 2019, 20% of Texas' electricity comes from wind power, and the share of green energy is expected to grow over time. Most importantly, Governor Greg Abbott also supports cryptocurrency.

Former engineer at Gemini exchange, Brandon Arvanaghi, stated:

In the next few months, you will see a huge shift, with governors like Greg Abbott pushing for mining, making it a true industry in the United States. It's incredible.

According to industry insiders, Chinese miners seem to be actively reaching out to Western counterparts. Nic Carter mentioned:

Every Western mining boss I know is getting a lot of calls. Chinese miners are looking towards Central Asia, Eastern Europe, the United States, and Northern Europe.

The Inevitable Migration of the Landscape

Steve Barbour, founder of portable mining company Upstream Data, pointed out that the migration will not happen immediately, partly because miners need time to transfer machines, liquidate assets, or set up the next mining site.

Nic Carter believes it will take 6 to 9 months:

These wandering miners are expanding overseas, but the conditions for entering the U.S. may not be as lenient as in other countries.

With China's mining ban, Musk's criticism of energy-intensive mining, and the crypto market's struggle to recover from these two major headwinds, industry insiders agree that the only variable cost for large-scale mining is usually energy, making the pursuit of cheaper renewable energy an inevitable trend.

However, for now, despite solar and wind power being the cheapest green energy sources in the world, both face scalability limitations, and there have been no actual actions from mining facilities to fully transition to wind or solar power to prove its feasibility.