China shuts down crypto miners in two provinces for 'strict' tax inspections

Crypto-mining firms in the the provinces of Xinjiang and Guizhou recently had their power cut off, according to reports from Chinese daily Cong News. The forced shutdown on November 5 cost miners around 1 million yuan a day (nearly $144,000) Cong News said. Ostensibly this move was to allow the government to examine "the mines' tax information, funds, and customer information. It is understood that the tax inspection of the mine is very strict,” per the report. Mining firms were required to pledge compliance with Chinese rules about customer disclosure, presumably to allow the government to know on whose behalf who crypto is being mined.

While the inspections are now complete, it remains unclear if the miners yet have power or are back online. Further, the local source did not confirm whether Bitmain had been hit by the sweep. The mining giant was said to deploy 90,000 of its Antminer s9 machines to Xinjiang ahead of the upcoming Bitcoin Cash hard fork. (Source: CCN)