Key Highlights
- China’s Bitcoin mining is quietly rebounding, driven by cheap electricity, new data centers, and rising crypto prices despite the 2021 ban.
- Miners are returning to energy-rich regions like Xinjiang, showing how profits can outweigh regulatory risks and fuel renewed crypto activity.
- Mining rig sales and network metrics confirm growth, signaling China’s subtle policy shifts and ongoing influence in the global Bitcoin market.
Bitcoin mining is slowly making a comeback in China, even though Beijing banned it in 2021. Both small and large miners are taking advantage of cheap electricity and new data centers in provinces with plenty of power.
China used to lead the world in Bitcoin mining, but its share dropped to almost nothing after the ban. Now, it has bounced back and controls about 14% of global mining as of October, as noted in a latest Reuters article.
Miners in regions like Xinjiang have restarted operations, leveraging abundant power that cannot be efficiently transmitted elsewhere. Wang, a private miner in Xinjiang, said, “A lot of energy cannot be transmitted out of Xinjiang, so you consume it in the form of crypto mining. New mining projects are under construction. People mine where electricity is cheap.”
This comeback happened as Bitcoin prices surged to new highs in October and network activity started to rise, making mining more profitable.
Economic incentives drive the revival
The return of Bitcoin mining shows economic incentives influence Chinese policy in specific regions. Despite the official ban remaining in place, data from World Population Review suggests that nearly 21% of global mining capacity now operates in China.
Besides low electricity costs, the surplus of power and computing capacity from overbuilt data centers fuels renewed mining activity. Factors like local governments, facing cash constraints, contributed indirectly by overspending on infrastructure.
Mining rig sales reflect growth
As noted by Reuters, sales data from the world’s second-largest mining machine maker, Canaan, confirms that the firm earned 30.3% of its global revenue in China last year, up from 2.8% in 2022. This also coincides with China’s share climbing beyond 50% in Q2 2025. Canaan attributes growth to rising popularity of Bitcoin, U.S. tariff uncertainty, and subtle shifts in China’s digital asset posture.
“In China, the R&D, manufacturing, and sale of mining machines are permitted,” Canaan says, adding that the company also noted that its operations fully comply with Chinese regulations, though it declined to comment on broader mining policies. High demand, ready infrastructure, and cheap electricity explain why Bitcoin mining is picking up quickly in China, even with official bans.
Network metrics show industry activity
Bitcoin’s network metrics also show active mining. The current hashprice is $35.69 per unit of hashpower, and the network difficulty is 152.27 trillion. The network has processed 1,042.92 exahashes per second over the past week, and miners have completed 82% of the current difficulty epoch.
Miners earned 3.14 BTC in block rewards over 24 hours, while transaction fees accounted for 0.55% of all rewards. The next difficulty adjustment is due on November 27, 2025, while the next halving event in April 2028 will further reduce block rewards.
Subtle policy shifts encourage mining
China’s cautious softening toward digital assets has also played a role. Hong Kong implemented a stablecoin bill in August, promoting regulated crypto markets. Beijing is reportedly considering yuan-backed stablecoins to compete with U.S. stablecoin initiatives. Julio Moreno, head of research at CryptoQuant, said, “Bitcoin mining is still officially banned in China. However, there continues to be significant capacity operating.”
China’s return to Bitcoin mining shows the network is bouncing back and could help stabilize prices. It proves that when money incentives are strong, people find ways around rules. As a result, the global crypto market might see a steadier supply of Bitcoin, even after past crackdowns.
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