China scraps plan to phase out bitcoin mining industry

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) seems to have scrapped its plan to eliminate bitcoin mining industry from the country.

In April, NDRC, a macroeconomic management agency under the Chinese State Council, sought public opinion on a revised list of industries that it was intending to encourage, restrict or eliminate. Cryptocurrency mining was included in the revised Catalogue of Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance among around 450 activities which the NDRC believed should be stopped as they do not comply with relevant regulations, and were “unsafe, wasted resources or polluted the environment.”

CoinDesk has now reported that the commission has published a new finalized catalogue, which does not contain any description related to virtual currency or bitcoin mining.

This final version will go into effect from Jan 1, 2020 and replace the existing one published back in 2011.

During a press conference, NDRC officials said the agency received more than 2,500 suggestions and opinions on various issues since the release of the initial draft, adding that “most of them were adopted and absorbed.”

Recent reports suggest that the governments of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia(Neimonggu) have been trying to curb the scale of local mining industry. Writing for 8btc, columnist Vincent He pointed out mining camps previously sought approval from authorities by pretending to be high-tech projects such as cloud computing and big data companies.

However, authorities have now realized this tactic, making it difficult for mining camps to get approval. This also means that the mining camps can no longer enjoy preferential policies as high-tech projects.

“If the mining camps buy electricity according to the price of industrial electricity, the cost of electricity will be half higher,” He wrote.

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