- BBitmain Technologies, the world’s largest mining rig seller, has stopped spot delivery of its
Bitcoin mining rigs globally. - Bitcoin mining rigs refers to the computing infrastructure employed by mining farms to mine Bitcoins.
- Prices of Bitcoin mining rigs have tanked by as much as 75% after China’s crackdowns.
- The global hash rate for Bitcoin and other cryptos has fallen dramatically since last month.
The Chinese company is the largest Bitcoin mining rig maker in the world, and has stopped spot deliveries in order to raise local prices in the country, thanks to reduced demand, as mining firms are leaving China amid the crackdown.
The company told Bloomberg that it has stopped selling new equipment ‘after prices for top tier rigs plunged by about 75% since April’. The company spokesperson disclosed that there’s no guidance on when the company plans to get back to business as usual.
For now, Bitmain plans to only continue selling gear for the future delivery of devices used to mine smaller altcoins.
Bitmain may be waiting for miners to find new homes
Demand aside, postponing sales could also help miners shift their business to other setups. China’s crackdown has led some of the largest mining farms in the world to look elsewhere and consider setting up businesses outside the country.
Firms like Bitmain may want to retain the farms’ business by ensuring that they can deliver to these new markets. According to Bloomberg, the company had a closed-door event with hundreds of its mining clients last week. During the meeting, Bitmain promised to help these miners hook up with data centers in countries like the US and Kazakhstan.
Bitcoin and Ethereum, being the largest cryptocurrencies, also consume the most amount of power, and hence make for the biggest markets for companies like Bitmain.
A supply crunch will boost prices for those wanting an out
For those planning to leave the world of Bitcoin mining for good, a crunch in supply could help them get a better price for their machines.
China’s crackdown on the
As reported earlier, the global hash rate for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has reduced since last month. The hash rate signifies the amount of computing power being put towards crypto mining around the world.
Before the Asian giant started to clamp down on miners in the country, China was responsible for more than half of all the Bitcoin mining in the world.
“Recent news on the China mining shutdown is very reminiscent of China every few years. They’ve banned banks from using bitcoin, but this is actually different. I’ve never seen an exodus like this before,” Darin Feinstein, founder of Blockcap, one of the largest bitcoin mining companies, told CNBC.
Big exchanges and mining farms have been looking for alternatives too — but some are not successful. Crypto miner Huobi Mall announced that it would be shutting down mining operations in China in May. Last week, it stopped offering some of its exchange services because of the crackdowns.
“Due to recent dynamic changes in the market, in order to protect the interests of investors, a portion of services such as futures contracts, ETP [exchange-traded products] or other leveraged investment products are temporarily unavailable to new users from a few specified countries and regions,” the company told Coindesk.
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