Over the past year China has been running the rule over cryptocurrency, clamping down on its use for a myriad reasons, with the latest being the impact of crypto mining on carbon emissions.

This according to National Development and Reform Commission spokesperson Meng Wei, who highlighted it as an “extremely harmful” threat to the country’s goals in that department.

The classification, while valid in some respects, does appear to flout the fact that China was absent as last week’s COP26 climate summit in Scotland, agreeing to conditions set out by global leaders, but seemingly ramping up its coal production.

Wei singled out Bitcoin in particular during a press conference this week, noting that crypto mining of the digital asset “consumes lots of energy” and “produces lots of carbon emissions”.

The spokesperson added that China will be launching a full-scale clampdown on crypto mining in the region, with a specific focus on commercial mining and the role that state-owned businesses in the industry play.

As CNN notes, the price of Bitcoin fell seven percent on the back of the press conference to its lowest point in a week. Considering that China accounts for an estimated 75 percent of Bitcoin mining globally, this intensified crackdown is expected to have an impact on what is already a fairly volatile coin.

While not touched on by Wei, we have to wonder whether the recent upgrade in the Bitcoin network’s code prompted this decision, with the aforementioned upgrade specifically dealing with improved security and privacy.

This would make the monitoring of crypto exchanges far more difficult, which is one area that the Chinese government has focused on during the past year.

Either way, those in the cryptocurrency sector of the Southeast Asian country will find it more difficult to operate in the coming months.

[Image – Photo by Brian Matangelo on Unsplash]