China’s share of global bitcoin mining plunges while Kazakhstan climbs to third place

China’s share of global bitcoin mining is declining this year. On the contrary, the share of Kazakhstan, which has become the third largest miner in the world, is increasing. That’s according to a survey by Cambridge University, which was reported today by the CNBC news server.

China accounted for 46 percent of the energy used to mine bitcoins in April, up from 75.5 percent in September 2019. China’s share fell to less than half before the Chinese authorities intervened against cryptocurrency mining.

In the same period, Kazakhstan, on the other hand, saw an almost sixfold increase in its share of bitcoin mining, to 8.2 percent from 1.4 percent. In second place is the United States, whose share rose to 16.8 percent from 4.1 percent. Russia finished fourth and Iran fifth.

Mining in the context of cryptocurrencies is basically the release of individual coins of virtual currencies into circulation. Mining is carried out by computers, which are usually created specifically for this purpose and which have to solve complex mathematical calculations in order to verify the currency and its circulation. As a reward, these so-called miners get a certain amount of coins. Computers used to mine bitcoins need a huge amount of energy.

The rise in the price of bitcoin in recent years has attracted more people to mine this cryptocurrency. This has led to the emergence of an entire industry focused on the production and development of cryptocurrency mining equipment. But the more people mine bitcoins, the more energy is consumed. This has also raised concerns about the potential environmental impact of bitcoin, especially as most mining has been concentrated in China, which is highly dependent on coal-fired electricity.

The report shows that some bitcoin miners moved from China to neighboring Kazakhstan, the former Soviet republic, before the June government intervention restricting mining in China. According to Bloomberg, electricity generation capacity in Kazakhstan is 22 gigawatts, most of which comes from coal and gas-fired power plants.

Researcher at the University of Cambridge Michel Rauchs created an index in 2019 that shows how much energy bitcoin consumes. The academic said that he was working on a new model that shows the impact of bitcoin mining on the environment. It was the negative impact on the environment that made bitcoin a controversial asset at a time when social and environmental responsibility became in the interest of investors. In May, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company would stop accepting bitcoin payments unless more sustainable energy was used in mining.