Inner Mongolia authorities are intensifying their crackdown on crypto mining operations that may be putting the region’s bid to reduce carbon emissions in peril.
In line with this matter, the Development and Reform Commission of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region recently announced the public now has direct means to report any suspected remote cryptocurrency mining in the area.
It can be recalled that once, Inner Mongolia was home to a gigantic network of crypto mining operators that accounted for almost 8% of the global Bitcoin hash rate from September 2019 to April 2020.
Inner Mongolia under scrutiny
The coal-rich region is now under extensive scrutiny of Chinese authorities as part of Beijing’s proactive and somehow ambitious goal to reduce carbon emissions.
Inner Mongolia abounds with cheap electricity that is heavily reliant on fossil fuels. In fact, a recent Greenpeace report showed the region had the highest amount of “new capacity for coal-fired power plants between 2016 and 2020 of any DRC in China.”
Providing the public with a direct way to report remote crypto mining operations such as a dedicated telephone hotline, email and mail service, only proves the attempts of regional authorities to make a reversal on the energy sector by intensifying a crackdown on illegal and energy-intensive digital currency mining activities.
Handling residual mining operations
The recent move of local authorities is a ploy to deal with remaining mining operations in Inner Mongolia often masquerading as data centers. It follows a series of actions that have the same goal.
Back in August last year, the implementation of a policy that would stop crypto miners from using cheap and state-subsidized electricity was considered and in March this year, there was a proposal to “comprehensively clean up and shut down virtual currency mining projects” by the end of April.
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