Despite the ban on the use of cryptocurrencies by financial institutions and the designation of mining as an undesirable activity, Chinese crypto miners are now back on track.

According to data from Cambridge University, Chinese miners have now turned their equipment back on after a short hiatus as the country moves into second place in the global ranking, with a share of 21.1%. The US currently occupies the top spot, with 37.8%. Kazakhstan is in third place, with 13.2%, and Russia is now outside the top three after falling to fifth place behind Canada's 4.7%.

Back in 2021, China was the undisputed leader, with a 50% market share and a hash rate of 80 EH/s. However, the country's leadership viewed crypto's growing popularity as a threat to the digital yuan and chose to repress it. Cryptocurrency exchanges almost universally stopped accepting Chinese citizens as customers, with many financial institutions quickly changing their jurisdictions as a significant portion of mining farms migrated abroad.

CBECI project lead Alexander Neumuller has pointed out that the empirical data seem to confirm the aforementioned suggestion that mining is still going strong in China. His calculations were made on the basis of data from four of the biggest Bitcoin mining pools: BTC.com, Poolin, ViaBTC and Foundry. Neumuller also called upon other mining pools to collaborate on a joint research project in order to ensure that the data reflect the reality as closely as possible.

Despite Bitcoin's 55% decline from its ATH and the sharp rise in computational difficulty, mining remains a lucrative enterprise. The top-of-the-range Bitmain S19 Pro generates $5.50 per day when working in isolation. However, in May, deliveries of the liquid-cooled S19 Pro+ Hyd began. Its estimated return is as high as $11 per day.

The constant updating of ASIC fleets by major mining companies will lead to constant increases in difficulty. In light of the larger capacity of US firms to attract private investment, it is likely that the US will continue to hold first place in the global hash rate rankings.

StormGain analytical group

(cryptocurrency trading, exchange and storage platform)