Bitcoin’s hashrate fell by about 10% in a single day on Sunday, with Jianping Kong, former co-chairman of Bitcoin mining hardware producer Canaan, attributing it to mining farms shutting down in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region.
In a Monday X post, Kong said Bitcoin’s hashrate dropped by about 100 terahashes per second (TH/s) since Sunday. He claimed the drop to was caused by “at least 400,000 machines” shutting down, based on an estimate of 250 terahashes per application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) miners.
Kong tied the change to Bitcoin mining farms shutting down in China’s Xinjiang autonomous region. Cointelegraph was unable to verify the claims independently, but Kong’s position as a former co-chairman at a Chinese Bitcoin mining ASIC producer lends some credibility to the assertion.
According to YCharts data, Bitcoin’s hashrate dropped from 1,053 TH/s on Sunday to just under 943 TH/s on Monday. This is equivalent to a loss of over 10%, or 110 TH/s. Still, the network’s total hashrate is an estimate inferred from network statistics and cannot be precisely measured.
Related: Scaramucci family invested over $100M in Trump’s Bitcoin mining firm: Report
China: Bitcoin’s unreliable friend
China has historically had a significant presence in the Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry, but it has also proved to be an unreliable source of hashrate. Before 2021, China accounted for most (about 65%) of Bitcoin’s hashrate until the Chinese government moved to stop mining activity that year.
In 2024, mining operations resumed across China, with October Hashrate Index data showing China now accounts for about 14% of global Bitcoin mining. CryptoQuant instead estimates China’s contribution to be from 15% to 20% of the total Bitcoin hashrate.
Late last month, Reuters reported that individual and corporate miners exploit cheap electricity across China despite the ban. Kong is less than happy about the situation, saying that with Xinjiang’s Bitcoin mining farms shutting down, “the US wins without lifting a finger.”
Related: Google takes 5.4% stake in Bitcoin mining company Cipher Mining in $3B deal
The US aims for the Bitcoin mining crown
Kong’s comments come as the United States’ domestic Bitcoin mining industry grows at an increasingly rapid pace. At the end of August, Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 announced that it was building four new Bitcoin mining sites in Texas, Louisiana and Illinois, adding 1.5 gigawatts of capacity.
Hut 8 is the parent company of American Bitcoin, a Bitcoin mining and treasury company linked to the Trump family, and went public through a merger in early May. The company’s board of directors includes Eric Trump, the second-eldest of US President Donald Trump’s three sons — cementing the idea that US leadership is also betting on Bitcoin mining.
The US is also taking on China’s Bitcoin mining and ASIC industries more directly. Late November reports suggested that the leading Bitcoin mining ASIC producer, Bitcoin — based in China — is under investigation in the US over national security concerns.
The investigation aims to determine whether the hardware can be remotely controlled to spy on or sabotage the US power grid. Measures imposed following the inquiry may also affect the Trump family. American Bitcoin acquired a fleet of 16,299 Antminer U3S21EXPH units from Bitmain.
In October 2024, US authorities investigated Bitmain-linked Chinese chip designer Xiamen Sophgo over an alleged business relationship with US-sanctioned company Huawei. Just a month later, the US Customs and Border Protection Agency halted the delivery of thousands of Bitmain ASICs. US authorities only began releasing the hardware in March.
