The fact is that bitcoin mining can now be a very profitable business, if done with cheap electricity, and local governments have an interest in collecting taxes on these profits.
On the other hand, local governments themselves have their own carbon emission targets to meet, so much so that in this scenario there are those who compare the Chinese mining sector to a Wild West.
According to research by the University of Cambridge, 65% of the total Bitcoin hashrate is now located in China, making it the country most affected by this problem.
However, this is fundamentally only a political issue, because even if they banned mining, or required only zero-emission sources, or imposed very high taxes on mining, the Bitcoin network would still function without problems. The energy consumption is not due to the settings of the Bitcoin protocol, but to the free choice of the miners: it would be enough to convince or force them to consume less, and the problem could be solved.
The fact is that bitcoin mining can now be a very profitable business, if done with cheap electricity, and local governments have an interest in collecting taxes on these profits.
On the other hand, local governments themselves have their own carbon emission targets to meet, so much so that in this scenario there are those who compare the Chinese mining sector to a Wild West.
According to research by the University of Cambridge, 65% of the total Bitcoin hashrate is now located in China, making it the country most affected by this problem.
However, this is fundamentally only a political issue, because even if they banned mining, or required only zero-emission sources, or imposed very high taxes on mining, the Bitcoin network would still function without problems. The energy consumption is not due to the settings of the Bitcoin protocol, but to the free choice of the miners: it would be enough to convince or force them to consume less, and the problem could be solved.