The move by the Chinese government to ban cryptocurrency mining in the country is also extending to news outlets and resources shared by crypto miners. The government continues working towards minimizing the access of citizens to the cryptocurrency market. As a result, Chainnews, a notable media company founded in 2017, has disclosed that it will be closing down all activities.
The Block uncovered documents that revealed that internet service providers in China have figured out ways to prevent miners’ IPs from linking up with mining pool services. The efforts show that the government is not shifting its stance on the ban or relaxing its efforts. The actions of the Chinese government have so far led to a lot of individuals withdrawing from the market, with businesses shutting down or migrating elsewhere.
At the beginning of the month, users could no longer access the applications or websites of several crypto news or information outlets. The companies have since then had to move to their social media platforms to keep users informed. Some also opened new web addresses.
The Editor-in-Chief at Chainnews said that after lots of consideration, the company would be shutting down its operations. The executive, using the company’s news chat news feed, thanked everyone that had stuck with the news outlet till the end. However, aside from Chainnews, some other outlets are still up and running using new web addresses. The fact that their apps are no longer accessible, however, means that their engagement on mobile platforms has dropped.
The government has also blocked other well-known sources of accessing cryptocurrency and digital asset information. They achieved this with the aid of the Great Firewall. The government had already blocked these months before now.
Miners Can’t Access Mining Pools
As mentioned before, internet service providers will be restricting crypto miners from accessing mining pools online. The internet service providers can identify IP addresses that have been connected to mining pools in the past. The system allows the internet service providers to either stop the specified IP addresses from accessing the internet or block the mining pool addresses to enable the user to connect to mining equipment.
Background
It was around the ending of September when the central bank of China announced that all cryptocurrency-related activities and transactions were to be considered illegal. They claimed that the digital asset market posed a risk to those that invest in it. The country before now was one of the largest cryptocurrency markets in the world. The announcement of the ban by the government had considerable effects on the prices of cryptocurrencies at the time.
China had originally banned the trading of cryptocurrencies since 2019. However, online exchanges had continued to operate in the country. The government stated that they felt the market was too volatile and unpredictable and could support criminal elements.
The government has put in more effort this year to enforce just that. The government has ensured that none of the biggest mining pools for Bitcoin and Ethereum will be accessible in China. The efforts have shown no signs of slowing down while talks grow of the country launching its CBDC.