If -- Rudyard Kipling
2021-05-24 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
archershipsAs I write this, China is cracking down on bitcoin mining. This is significant because 75% of all bitcoin mining happens in China. IMO, this kind of crackdown was inevitable at some point. And while it may harm prices in the short term, the crypto industry will find ways to work around it, and crypto will continue its long march to displace legacy fiat based financial services.
"Chinese Vice Premier Liu He told a group of finance officials on Friday that the government would "clamp down on bitcoin mining and trading activity" as part of its goal to achieve financial stability. The government didn't elaborate on specific policies targeting mining or trading.
While China has taken steps to restrict the use of cryptocurrencies for years, the focus on "mining" is new. The presence of Liu and other high-ranking cabinet members at the meeting, along with steps taken earlier last week to widen a clampdown on cryptos, indicate that the Chinese government is getting more aggressive about its approach.
Major crypto miners took notice. HashCow — which owns the world's largest mining farms — said Saturday that it would stop selling machines to clients in China and refund anyone who already paid for a machine but did not receive it. (It added, though, that it would maintain existing crypto mining machines.)
"We will actively support all kinds of laws and regulations in the country to avoid regulatory risks," the Chinese company said.
Another Chinese mining company, BIT.TOP, said it would no longer offer mining services for clients in mainland China.
"Next, we will mainly mine in North America," wrote Jiang Zhuoer, CEO of BIT.TOP, on his Weibo account on Saturday. "It's not worth running the regulatory risk."
Such decisions could have big consequences for cryptos. For example, the value of bitcoin is in part determined by the finite number — 21 million — of coins that can be created. Not all of the coins are in circulation, and bitcoin "miners" use computers to solve complex puzzles to create a new "block" on the chain.
The computers necessary for that process are run by companies like HashCow and BIT.TOP. China accounts for more than 75% of bitcoin mining around the world, according to research published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications last month."
If -- Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
"Chinese Vice Premier Liu He told a group of finance officials on Friday that the government would "clamp down on bitcoin mining and trading activity" as part of its goal to achieve financial stability. The government didn't elaborate on specific policies targeting mining or trading.
While China has taken steps to restrict the use of cryptocurrencies for years, the focus on "mining" is new. The presence of Liu and other high-ranking cabinet members at the meeting, along with steps taken earlier last week to widen a clampdown on cryptos, indicate that the Chinese government is getting more aggressive about its approach.
Major crypto miners took notice. HashCow — which owns the world's largest mining farms — said Saturday that it would stop selling machines to clients in China and refund anyone who already paid for a machine but did not receive it. (It added, though, that it would maintain existing crypto mining machines.)
"We will actively support all kinds of laws and regulations in the country to avoid regulatory risks," the Chinese company said.
Another Chinese mining company, BIT.TOP, said it would no longer offer mining services for clients in mainland China.
"Next, we will mainly mine in North America," wrote Jiang Zhuoer, CEO of BIT.TOP, on his Weibo account on Saturday. "It's not worth running the regulatory risk."
Such decisions could have big consequences for cryptos. For example, the value of bitcoin is in part determined by the finite number — 21 million — of coins that can be created. Not all of the coins are in circulation, and bitcoin "miners" use computers to solve complex puzzles to create a new "block" on the chain.
The computers necessary for that process are run by companies like HashCow and BIT.TOP. China accounts for more than 75% of bitcoin mining around the world, according to research published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications last month."
If -- Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!