Earlier today, a logistics firm confirmed to CNBC that it is airlifting 3,000kg of bitcoin mining machines to Maryland, USA. The firm which is located in Guangzhou is a logistics company that offers international shipping to door delivery.
This news comes in the wake of the China crackdown on bitcoin mining in the country. With mining farms in entire regions shut down. Laws are also being put in place to prevent new mining farms from being implemented. There has been a lot of speculation as to where the mining facilities would move to. Now it seems that the United States is the next destination for bitcoin mining.
China Crackdown On Bitcoin Mining
The Chinese government said the reason for the shutdowns was due to the energy consumption of the farms. With bitcoin alleged to use more power per year than the country of Netherlands for mining.
Related Reading | Clean Bitcoin Mining Solutions Grow Thanks To Ongoing China Crackdown
China has been looking for ways to reduce its pollution footprint. And bitcoin mining is a big consumer of power in the country.
Bitcoin mining still uses fossil fuel energy, which is a big contributor to greenhouse gases.
It accounts for about 70 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted in the world. Greenhouse gases are the leading cause of global warming. And fossil fuels are the culprit when it comes to pollution.
Bitcoin price chart | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
China has reportedly recovered 8 gigawatts of power due to the shutdown of the mining rigs.
Is The U.S. The New Mining Headquarters?
It’s hard to say where most of the miners will set up shop next.
Shipping mining rigs to the U.S. does not necessarily mean that they will be set up there. It could be stored there. The U.S. might not have the highest cost of electricity but it does not have the lowest either. Setting up there would mean a significant increase in energy costs.
A couple of factors made China such an ideal destination for mining. And so, the miners would have to look for those same factors or similar in wherever they choose to set up next.
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Some of these factors include the low cost of power. Since mining is so energy-intensive, it is imperative that the price of energy is low enough for the miners to turn a profit. This means that the new locations would have to have low energy costs.
Another factor is the already established supply chain in China. There is an established flow of technology in the country. Moving mining rigs in and around are not very hard to do. It makes it a perfect place to have mining rigs that require a lot of machines.
Mining facilities like BTC.POP and Huobi Hall announced that they had suspended operations in China.
Huobi Hall announced that it was looking to export its mining rigs overseas. BTC.POP said its operations will now be conducted from North America.
Featured image from News Logic, chart from TradingView.com
