China is allegedly shutting down bitcoin mining. With far, far fewer people mining Bitcoin, there won’t be nearly as many Bitcoins to meet demand.
The country’s top internet-finance regulator, the Leading Group of Internet Financial Risks Remediation, issued a notice asking local governments to “guide” bitcoin-mining operations to make an “orderly exit” from the business, according to a leaked document online. Citing government sources, Bloomberg and Reuters earlier reported that China is planning to limit electricity supply to bitcoin miners.
“Currently, there are some so-called ‘mining’ enterprises that produce ‘virtual currencies.’ They have consumed huge amounts of resources and stoked speculation of ‘virtual currencies,’” according to the document dated Jan. 2.
The document, issued to local offices of the internet-finance regulator, asks local authorities to use measures linked to electricity price, land use, tax, and environmental protection, among other things, to guide bitcoin miners to quit the business. It also asks the local offices to report information about mining facilities in their regions, as well as the progress of the exits from mining by Jan. 10, and then on the tenth day of every month.
https://qz.com/1174091/china-wants-an-orderly-exit-from-bitcoin-mining/