China's Bitcoin "Gray Empire" Suddenly Struck by a Thunderbolt!
The cryptocurrency world is once again facing tumultuous waves! Just as the price hovered above $85,000 on $BTC , an unexpected "mining storm" swept through Xinjiang, China—overnight, all Bitcoin mining farms in the area were shut down! In just two days, global network computing power plummeted by nearly 30%! This catastrophic drop set a record for the most severe single instance of computing power contraction since the halving in 2024.
Xinjiang, once the "underground kingdom" of Bitcoin mining, contributed a considerable share of global computing power thanks to cheap coal electricity and loose enforcement. After the national ban in 2021, it became a "gray paradise," where miners quietly laid out their plans, avoiding regulatory radar. However, this storm came without warning: regulatory authorities conducted surprise inspections, hundreds of high-performance ASIC miners were cut off instantly, and more than 400,000 devices were forced offline. Industry insiders exclaimed that it was a "total defeat"—no warning, no buffer, and miners could only watch helplessly as their machines "went cold."
This raid had long been foreshadowed; last month, videos of mining farms flaunting wealth frequently appeared on major social platforms, raising high-level concerns. The central government quickly issued orders, and many provinces acted simultaneously to seize the Xinjiang mining farms. Previously, China's share of computing power had returned to over 50%; now this "big piece" has been cut, instantly reshaping the global computing power landscape, with overseas mining pools in the U.S., Kazakhstan, and others possibly becoming the biggest winners.
What’s even more lamentable is the predicament of “photovoltaic miners.” Miners in places like Qinghai had contracted abandoned photovoltaic power stations, utilizing decommissioned solar panels to install energy storage cabinets for “survival”—the cost of one kilowatt-hour was just 0.05 yuan, and after building energy storage, it was only 0.3 yuan, far below the 1 yuan level in Europe and the U.S. But now, with the regulatory iron fist coming down, mining machines have been confiscated, power stations shut down, and the "profit dream" of recovering costs in half a year has shattered instantly.
Although the Bitcoin network has suffered this heavy blow, its core mechanism remains resilient: the difficulty adjustment mechanism will soon intervene, and in the short term, it may even benefit the remaining miners with soaring profits. However, this wave of "China's computing power earthquake" undoubtedly sounds the alarm—global mining is highly concentrated in gray areas, and any policy shift could trigger a chain reaction. Where will miners go from here? Will they continue to struggle underground, or will they completely venture abroad?
