Electricity is refused, the fifth largest mining pool in the world is leaving China for Kazakhstan

BTC.com – a huge crypto mining pool operated by BIT Mining and possessed by NYSE-listed Chinese lottery service firm 500. Com – has announced a powerful move of its first batch of mining machines to Kazakhstan.

BTC.com was set by Jihan Wu and managed by Bitmain and Bitdeer until it was acquired by 500. com in February. At press time, the pool is the fifth largest in the world, confirming 10.4percent of the blocks on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain.

The move comes after the firm was advised by the state grid in West Sichuan Province which the power supply to one of its regional data centres is going to be disrupted. In yesterday’s announcement, BIT Mining stated:

“On June 19, 2021, the company indirectly held the subsidiary Ganzi Changhe Hydropower Consumption Services Co. , Ltd. […] get educated […] by State Grid Sichuan Ganzi Electric Power Co. , Ltd. […] informed the Ganzi Changhe Data Center that its power supply will stop effective June 19, 2021 at 9:00 p.m. Beijing time. The Ganzi Changhe data centre was actively suspended since then. Data centers in Sichuan, including the Ganzi Changhe data centre, account for about 3 percent of the firm’s total earnings as of May 2021.

The intervention from the state system comes as the Chinese condition takes action against crypto mining over concerns about the carbon footprint of the mining industry, which runs counter to China’s decarbonization objectives.

In areas like Inner Mongolia, which was popular with cryptocurrency miners, regional authorities have set up a dedicated hotline for the local people to report any mining activity right. Amid this strain, at least three miners – BTC.TOP, Huobi and HashCow – were recently made to stop operations on the mainland.

Xianfeng Yang, CEO of BIT Mining, made this connection clear, saying that the firm is”dedicated to protecting the environment and reducing our carbon footprint. As part of the expansion strategy, we’re expanding overseas. After our investments in crypto-mining data centers in Texas and Kazakhstan, we’re accelerating our international growth for alternative high-quality mining sources. “

Related: Bitcoin mining in China put on “stricter observation” because of carbon concerns

While China is on the forefront of cryptocurrency miners, governments elsewhere are signaling their concerns over power-hungry mining places; are for the most part less climate-related compared to their impacts on local energy source. In late April, a former government official argued that cryptocurrency mining was the main reason behind the energy crisis in Kyrgyzstan. Similar concerns also have been voiced in the Caucasus and Iran.

Along with China, international regulators, and nonprofits, Elon Musk made a notorious intervention this year after he declared that the firm would no longer accept BTC as a payment method as a result of concerns about the high energy intake of Bitcoin mining.