# China’s 2021 Bitcoin mining ban: what happened, and where the miners went

China’s State Council committee called for a crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading in May 2021, followed by mining closures and September agency restrictions. Cambridge’s sampled mining map recorded a sharp shift away from China in mid-2021, while estimated network hash rate fell. The map measures its participating pools’ observed locations; a near-zero recorded share was not proof that all mining in China had stopped.

Evidence: [刘鹤主持召开国务院金融稳定发展委员会第五十一次会议 (Liu He chairs the 51st meeting of the State Council Financial Stability and Development Committee)](https://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2021-05/21/content_5610192.htm); [Notice on Further Preventing and Resolving the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3688253/3689012/2025080817521950275/index.html); [Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/); [Cambridge Bitcoin Mining Map: methodology](https://ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci/mining_map/methodology)

Canonical: https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021/
Published: 2026-09-23
Substantively modified: 2026-10-02
Independently verified by an automated reviewer: 2026-10-02T16:01:48.343Z

AI-assisted research and drafting with a separate automated source-verification pass; no external expert or named human review is implied.

## Key facts

- **China’s share of hash rate, September 2019:** 75.5%, by the Cambridge mining map ([New data reveals timeline of China’s bitcoin mining exodus](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2021/new-data-reveals-timeline-of-chinas-bitcoin-mining-exodus/))
- **China’s share, April 2021:** 46%, before any ban took effect ([New data reveals timeline of China’s bitcoin mining exodus](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2021/new-data-reveals-timeline-of-chinas-bitcoin-mining-exodus/))
- **State Council statement:** 21 May 2021: “crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior” ([刘鹤主持召开国务院金融稳定发展委员会第五十一次会议 (Liu He chairs the 51st meeting of the State Council Financial Stability and Development Committee)](https://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2021-05/21/content_5610192.htm))
- **Hash rate drop:** About 38% in June 2021; a record 28% difficulty cut followed on 3 July ([Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/); [Bitcoin Miner Profitability Could Double After Record Drop in Network Difficulty](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/06/bitcoin-miner-profitability-could-double-after-record-drop-in-network-difficulty))
- **Mining notice:** NDRC notice dated 3 September 2021: no new projects, existing ones to exit ([关于整治虚拟货币“挖矿”活动的通知 (Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency “Mining” Activities), 发改运行〔2021〕1283号](https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/202109/t20210924_1297474.html))
- **Trading notice:** PBOC and nine other bodies, 15 September 2021: virtual-currency business is illegal financial activity ([Notice on Further Preventing and Resolving the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3688253/3689012/2025080817521950275/index.html))
- **Who picked up the share, August 2021:** United States 35.4%, Kazakhstan 18.1%, Russia 11% ([Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/))

## Before 2021, most Bitcoin mining happened in China, and it moved with the rain

For most of Bitcoin’s first decade, the machines doing the mining, meaning the specialized computers that race to add the next block and earn new coins, were mostly in China. The best public measure of that is the Bitcoin Mining Map kept by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, part of the University of Cambridge’s business school. It put China’s share of the world’s mining power at 75.5% in September 2019. By April 2021, before any ban took effect, the share had already slipped to 46%, while the United States had climbed from 4.1% to 16.8% and Kazakhstan from 1.4% to 8.2%.

Those figures deserve a caveat the map’s authors make themselves. The data comes from a handful of mining pools, which are services that let many miners combine their effort and share rewards, and it has covered roughly a third of the network’s total mining power. Location is inferred from the internet addresses miners connect from, and miners who route through a VPN, a service that hides where a connection really originates, show up in the wrong country. The map is the best evidence there is, not a census.

The Chinese share also moved with the weather. Cambridge’s data shows miners migrating to Sichuan when summer rains filled hydroelectric dams and cheap surplus power was on offer, with the province’s share of Chinese mining peaking at 61.1% in the wet season while coal-heavy Xinjiang fell to 9.6%, then shifting back in the dry months. That seasonal rhythm is part of why the shutdown, when it came, was so abrupt: the industry was concentrated in a few provinces that could be switched off by a few decisions.

Evidence: [New data reveals timeline of China’s bitcoin mining exodus](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2021/new-data-reveals-timeline-of-chinas-bitcoin-mining-exodus/); [Cambridge Bitcoin Mining Map: methodology](https://ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci/mining_map/methodology)

## A single sentence in May started it

The ban began with one sentence. On 21 May 2021 the State Council’s Financial Stability and Development Committee, the body that coordinates China’s financial regulators, held its 51st meeting under Vice Premier Liu He. The readout on the central government’s website listed the usual priorities, then said the financial system should “crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior, and resolutely prevent individual risks from being transmitted to the social sphere.”

That was not a law and it named no agency. But a statement like that from a body chaired by a vice premier is read as an instruction, and provincial governments and power companies treated it as one. Over the following weeks mines in the main mining regions were ordered to shut. By early July, CoinDesk described a crackdown that had “forced many miners to shut down,” with Chinese operators selling their machines at steep discounts: newer models had lost about 32% of their resale value, older ones about 36%.

Evidence: [刘鹤主持召开国务院金融稳定发展委员会第五十一次会议 (Liu He chairs the 51st meeting of the State Council Financial Stability and Development Committee)](https://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2021-05/21/content_5610192.htm); [Bitcoin Miner Profitability Could Double After Record Drop in Network Difficulty](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/06/bitcoin-miner-profitability-could-double-after-record-drop-in-network-difficulty)

## Hash rate fell by more than a third, and the difficulty thermostat caught it

You can see the shutdown in the network’s own numbers. Hash rate is the combined guessing speed of every mining machine in the world, and it is the best proxy for how much hardware is switched on. Cambridge’s researchers measured a 38% drop in global hash rate in June 2021. By 2 July, CoinDesk reported, the seven-day average had fallen to 84.3 exahashes per second, the lowest since September 2019, and total mining power had been cut by more than half from its record earlier in the year. Our article on [hash rate](/encyclopedia/bitcoin-hash-rate/) explains how that figure is estimated from the chain.

Bitcoin has a thermostat for exactly this situation. At regular intervals the network re-measures how fast blocks are arriving and adjusts the difficulty of the mining puzzle so blocks return to their target pace. When half the miners vanish, blocks slow down until the next adjustment catches up. On 3 July 2021 the difficulty fell by about 28%, the largest downward adjustment in Bitcoin’s history, which is why the miners still running saw their profitability jump. The [difficulty adjustment](/encyclopedia/bitcoin-difficulty-adjustment/) article covers the mechanism.

What the network did not do is stop. Blocks kept coming, more slowly for a few weeks, and every transaction confirmed during the slowdown is as final as any other. The episode is the clearest real-world test so far of the claim that Bitcoin’s design tolerates a large, sudden loss of miners.

Evidence: [Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/); [Bitcoin Miner Profitability Could Double After Record Drop in Network Difficulty](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/06/bitcoin-miner-profitability-could-double-after-record-drop-in-network-difficulty)

## In September, two notices made it official

Two formal notices followed in September, and they are the documents people mean when they say China banned crypto. The first, from the National Development and Reform Commission and ten other bodies, is dated 3 September 2021 and was published on 24 September. It describes mining as a process with “high energy consumption and carbon emissions” and “low contribution to the national economy.” It bans investment in any new mining project, orders existing projects to exit in an orderly way, adds mining to the national catalog of industries to be eliminated, and lets power companies charge mining operations an extra 0.30 yuan per kilowatt-hour.

The second is the one from the People’s Bank of China, dated 15 September 2021 and issued jointly with nine other bodies, including the Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. Its English text says virtual currencies “are not legal tenders, and should not and cannot be circulated as currency in the market,” and that “virtual currency-related business activities are illegal financial activities.” It adds that overseas exchanges serving residents in China over the internet are engaged in illegal financial activity too. The notice is aimed at businesses, exchanges and payment services; on its face it is not a ban on a person holding coins.

This was not Beijing’s first move against crypto, and our dossier on [government policy and sovereign adoption](/history/bitcoin-policy-government-and-sovereign-adoption/) traces the earlier rounds. What made 2021 different was that mining, the physical industry, was targeted alongside trading, at the national level, with energy policy as the stated reason.

Evidence: [关于整治虚拟货币“挖矿”活动的通知 (Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency “Mining” Activities), 发改运行〔2021〕1283号](https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/202109/t20210924_1297474.html); [Notice on Further Preventing and Resolving the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3688253/3689012/2025080817521950275/index.html)

## Where the miners went: the United States, Kazakhstan and Russia

The Cambridge map’s next update, published 13 October 2021, showed where the machines had gone. By August 2021 the United States held 35.4% of the sampled hash rate, up from 16.8% in April; Kazakhstan 18.1%, up from 8.2%; Russia 11%; and Canada 9.55%. China’s share had fallen to effectively zero. A year later the White House science office reported that the United States accounted for about 38% of global Bitcoin hash rate as of August 2022, up from 3.5% in 2020.

The network recovered quickly. Cambridge recorded a 20% “bounceback” in hash rate across July and August 2021, and by early October the trajectory suggested the whole June drop would soon be made good. Michel Rauchs, the center’s digital assets lead, described the result as “an increased geographic distribution of hashrate across the world,” which he called a positive development for network security and for Bitcoin’s decentralized principles.

One more caveat. Effectively zero means invisible in the sample, not necessarily absent. The map’s own methodology warns that miners can hide behind VPNs, and a country where mining is banned is exactly where they would. Whatever remained in China after 2021 is, by construction, hard to see.

Evidence: [Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/); [Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States](https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/09-2022-Crypto-Assets-and-Climate-Report.pdf); [Cambridge Bitcoin Mining Map: methodology](https://ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci/mining_map/methodology)

## Questions

### Is bitcoin illegal in China?

The People’s Bank of China notice of 15 September 2021 says virtual currencies are not legal tender and that virtual-currency business activities, including exchanges serving residents in China from overseas, are illegal financial activities. The mining notice of 3 September 2021 bans new mining projects and orders existing ones to exit. Neither text, on its face, makes holding coins a crime.

Evidence: [Notice on Further Preventing and Resolving the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3688253/3689012/2025080817521950275/index.html); [关于整治虚拟货币“挖矿”活动的通知 (Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency “Mining” Activities), 发改运行〔2021〕1283号](https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/202109/t20210924_1297474.html)

### How much did Bitcoin’s hash rate fall after China’s ban?

Cambridge measured a 38% drop in global hash rate in June 2021. CoinDesk reported that total mining power had fallen by more than half from its record earlier in the year, and on 3 July 2021 the network’s difficulty adjusted downward by about 28%, the largest such cut in Bitcoin’s history.

Evidence: [Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/); [Bitcoin Miner Profitability Could Double After Record Drop in Network Difficulty](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/06/bitcoin-miner-profitability-could-double-after-record-drop-in-network-difficulty)

### Where did Chinese bitcoin miners go?

By August 2021 the Cambridge mining map showed the United States with 35.4% of sampled hash rate, Kazakhstan 18.1%, Russia 11% and Canada 9.55%. By August 2022 the White House science office put the United States share at about 38%.

Evidence: [Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/); [Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States](https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/09-2022-Crypto-Assets-and-Climate-Report.pdf)

### Did the ban stop Bitcoin?

No. Blocks kept being produced, more slowly until the difficulty adjusted on 3 July 2021, and Cambridge recorded a 20% recovery in hash rate over July and August with the full June drop expected to be recovered by the autumn.

Evidence: [Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/); [Bitcoin Miner Profitability Could Double After Record Drop in Network Difficulty](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/06/bitcoin-miner-profitability-could-double-after-record-drop-in-network-difficulty)

## Claims and scope

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-quick-answer

China’s State Council committee called for a crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading in May 2021, followed by mining closures and September agency restrictions. Cambridge’s sampled mining map recorded a sharp shift away from China in mid-2021, while estimated network hash rate fell. The map measures its participating pools’ observed locations; a near-zero recorded share was not proof that all mining in China had stopped.

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-fact-china-s-share-of-hash-rate-september-2019

China’s share of hash rate, September 2019: 75.5%, by the Cambridge mining map

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-fact-china-s-share-april-2021

China’s share, April 2021: 46%, before any ban took effect

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-fact-state-council-statement

State Council statement: 21 May 2021: “crack down on bitcoin mining and trading behavior”

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-fact-hash-rate-drop

Hash rate drop: About 38% in June 2021; a record 28% difficulty cut followed on 3 July

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-fact-mining-notice

Mining notice: NDRC notice dated 3 September 2021: no new projects, existing ones to exit

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-fact-trading-notice

Trading notice: PBOC and nine other bodies, 15 September 2021: virtual-currency business is illegal financial activity

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

### china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021-fact-who-picked-up-the-share-august-2021

Who picked up the share, August 2021: United States 35.4%, Kazakhstan 18.1%, Russia 11%

Scope: {"collection":"bitcoin","dataAsOf":null,"blockHeight":null}

## Sources

- [刘鹤主持召开国务院金融稳定发展委员会第五十一次会议 (Liu He chairs the 51st meeting of the State Council Financial Stability and Development Committee)](https://www.gov.cn/guowuyuan/2021-05/21/content_5610192.htm) — The State Council of the People’s Republic of China (gov.cn). The official readout of the 21 May 2021 meeting, including the sentence calling for a crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading and the prevention of individual risks spreading to society. Locator: The official readout of the 21 May 2021 meeting, including the sentence calling for a crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading and the prevention of individual risks spreading to society.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:38.514486+00:00.
- [关于整治虚拟货币“挖矿”活动的通知 (Notice on Rectifying Virtual Currency “Mining” Activities), 发改运行〔2021〕1283号](https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/202109/t20210924_1297474.html) — National Development and Reform Commission and ten other departments. The mining notice, dated 3 September and published 24 September 2021: it characterizes mining as high-energy and low-value, bans new projects, orders existing ones to exit, lists mining as an eliminated industry and permits a 0.30 yuan per kWh surcharge. Locator: The mining notice, dated 3 September and published 24 September 2021: it characterizes mining as high-energy and low-value, bans new projects, orders existing ones to exit, lists mining as an eliminated industry and permits a 0.30 yuan per kWh surcharge.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:40.385358+00:00.
- [Notice on Further Preventing and Resolving the Risks of Virtual Currency Trading and Speculation](https://www.pbc.gov.cn/en/3688253/3689012/2025080817521950275/index.html) — People’s Bank of China (English-language site). The English text of the 15 September 2021 notice by ten departments stating that virtual currencies are not legal tender, that virtual-currency business activities are illegal financial activities, and that overseas exchanges serving residents in China are acting illegally. Locator: The English text of the 15 September 2021 notice by ten departments stating that virtual currencies are not legal tender, that virtual-currency business activities are illegal financial activities, and that overseas exchanges serving residents in China are acting illegally.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:40.682641+00:00.
- [New data reveals timeline of China’s bitcoin mining exodus](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/2021/new-data-reveals-timeline-of-chinas-bitcoin-mining-exodus/) — Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. Mining map figures showing China at 75.5% of hash rate in September 2019 and 46% in April 2021, the United States and Kazakhstan shares over the same period, and the seasonal Sichuan and Xinjiang pattern. Locator: Mining map figures showing China at 75.5% of hash rate in September 2019 and 46% in April 2021, the United States and Kazakhstan shares over the same period, and the seasonal Sichuan and Xinjiang pattern.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:39.033544+00:00.
- [Geographic shift: bitcoin mining after the China ban](https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/geographic-shift/) — Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. The 13 October 2021 update reporting the 38% June 2021 hash rate drop, the 20% July to August bounceback, and August 2021 shares for the United States, Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada and China, with Michel Rauchs’s comment. Locator: The 13 October 2021 update reporting the 38% June 2021 hash rate drop, the 20% July to August bounceback, and August 2021 shares for the United States, Kazakhstan, Russia, Canada and China, with Michel Rauchs’s comment.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:49:42.564375+00:00.
- [Cambridge Bitcoin Mining Map: methodology](https://ccaf.io/cbnsi/cbeci/mining_map/methodology) — Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (ccaf.io). Explains that the map geolocates miners from IP addresses reported by partner pools covering roughly 32% to 38% of hash rate, updated monthly from September 2019, and warns that VPNs and proxies distort locations. Locator: Explains that the map geolocates miners from IP addresses reported by partner pools covering roughly 32% to 38% of hash rate, updated monthly from September 2019, and warns that VPNs and proxies distort locations.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T15:33:18.091569+00:00.
- [Bitcoin Miner Profitability Could Double After Record Drop in Network Difficulty](https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2021/07/06/bitcoin-miner-profitability-could-double-after-record-drop-in-network-difficulty) — CoinDesk. Reporting on the record 28% downward difficulty adjustment of 3 July 2021, the seven-day average hash rate of 84.3 EH/s, the halving of total hash power from its record, and Chinese miners selling rigs at discounts. Locator: Reporting on the record 28% downward difficulty adjustment of 3 July 2021, the seven-day average hash rate of 84.3 EH/s, the halving of total hash power from its record, and Chinese miners selling rigs at discounts.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T14:48:48.544241+00:00.
- [Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets in the United States](https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/09-2022-Crypto-Assets-and-Climate-Report.pdf) — White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (archived). States that the United States share of global Bitcoin hash rate rose from 3.5% in 2020 to about 38% as of August 2022. Locator: States that the United States share of global Bitcoin hash rate rose from 3.5% in 2020 to about 38% as of August 2022.. Retrieved: 2026-10-02T15:04:15.142111+00:00.

## Revision history

- 2026-09-23: Initial Bitcoin encyclopedia entry at this permanent URL.
- 2026-10-02: Revised direct answer to preserve source scope and qualifications.
- 2026-10-02: Added reusable claims, explicit source locators, and matching Markdown and JSON. This publishing change does not itself establish factual verification.

## Cite this entry

Degrees of Satoshi editorial project. “China’s 2021 Bitcoin mining ban: what happened, and where the miners went.” Published 2026-09-23; updated 2026-10-02. https://degreesofsatoshi.com/encyclopedia/china-bitcoin-mining-ban-2021/