Research: China's bitcoin hashrate share fell from 44% to 0% between May and July, as the US rose from 17% in April to 35% in August and Kazakhstan rose to 18%
Crackdown on digital currencies knocks country's share of crypto production to zero — The US overtook China as the world's biggest source … Source: Cambridge Judge Business … .
Context & Ripple Effects
China's position had already been eroding before the crackdown: Cambridge research recorded its share falling to 46% in April while the US share climbed to 16.8% in the earlier Cambridge hashrate survey. The reported zero reading marks a far sharper redistribution, with the US and Kazakhstan absorbing much of the displaced capacity.
Later coverage complicates any reading of the ban as a permanent removal of Chinese mining: research subsequently found a return of Chinese hashrate through covert mining. The immediate story is therefore about where visible mining capacity relocated, and how regulation reshaped its geographic footprint.
First-order effects
- China loses its measured bitcoin-mining presence, while the US becomes the largest reported source of hashrate at 35% and Kazakhstan reaches 18%.
- Miners displaced by China's crackdown must operate through jurisdictions able to host their equipment, directing activity and associated infrastructure demand toward the US and Kazakhstan.
Second-order effects
- Kazakhstan's enlarged role makes bitcoin mining more exposed to its domestic connectivity: later internet disruptions there were estimated to shut down about 15% of the world's miners.
- US mining operators inherit a larger share of the network's reported capacity, raising the strategic importance of US-based power, hosting, and network infrastructure relative to China's formerly dominant base.
Third-order effects
- The relocation shows that national restrictions can redistribute visible hashrate rather than end mining; China's subsequent measured rebound suggests enforcement can push activity underground instead of removing it.
- If mining continues to concentrate in a smaller set of hosting jurisdictions, local power and internet disruptions will carry outsized consequences for a globally used network.
The trend: Bitcoin mining is shifting from China-centered scale toward a more geographically distributed but infrastructure-sensitive set of national hubs.