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It would seem that if China shuts down domestic Bitcoin exchanges that could have quite a big impact on the network as it could make the position of miners in c

It would seem that if China shuts down domestic Bitcoin exchanges that could have quite a big impact on the network as it could make the position of miners in china difficult. Looking at articles like (https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/mining/china/ https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/mining/china/) ~70% of all mining power is handled by China based groups, so it'd be a big change for that to be removed...

baldfat 9y ago
So does that mean AMD is about to lose their number one customers? China has almost a monopoly on mining due to access to low to no cost electricity. The miners preferred AMD Graphic cards and make AMD cards hundreds of dollars more valuable on EBay. https://www.pcworld.com/article/3199257/components-graphics/why-amds-radeon-graphics-cards-are-almost-impossible-to-buy-right-now.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/3199257/components-graphics/...
- nullnilvoid 9y ago
  GPU's are still used in mining. But the majority of large-scale miners use ASIC chips to mine coins. ASIC chips are just more efficient and powerful. They are designed only for mining.
- Nursie 9y ago
  GPUs are used mostly for ethereum, ZEC, Monero etc now. I get the impression that the massive crypto-currency datacentres in China are mostly BTC and LTC ASIC operations. It could be good for gamers if BTC crashes and ETH and the others crash alongside it, making mining unprofitable. FYI in the last couple of months price pressure seems to have switched to the nVidia GTX 1070 cards as the Radeons have been overinflated or just unavailable, and the 1070 has a good price/performance ratio for mining too...
wmf 9y ago
Mine in China, sell the BTC in Europe.
danmaz74 9y ago
I think that big miners wouldn't have such a big problem if the exchanges get shut down - as long as they export bitcoins and import dollars or other currencies, buying those in foreign cryptoexchanges, the government should be happy. What the government probably doesn't like is the other way around, when normal people buy BTC with yuan and then sell them abroad, exporting capitals.
- aecorredor 9y ago
  "What the government probably doesn't like is the other way around, when normal people buy BTC with yuan and then sell them abroad, exporting capitals." Don't they also get some type of currency back when they do this? which is probably then spent inside China too? I don't see how this would be different from the first scenario. Maybe I'm missing something.
  - danmaz74 9y ago
    It depends: if their goal is to export capitals, when they get foreign currency by selling the BTC they bought in China, they will keep that currency abroad and invest it there. Of course you can do the same with mining - instead of buying BTC at exchanges - but this will require first investing in China to buy China built mining equipment and operate your mine. That's the difference I see.
rothbardrand 9y ago
OCT BTC trading is legal in china. The issue is with the exchanges not being fully regulated according to the desires of the PBOC. This was the problem earlier in the year. They are tightening the screws. But you can sell BTC to people you know face to face and it's legal.

baldfat 9y ago

So does that mean AMD is about to lose their number one customers? China has almost a monopoly on mining due to access to low to no cost electricity. The miners preferred AMD Graphic cards and make AMD cards hundreds of dollars more valuable on EBay. https://www.pcworld.com/article/3199257/components-graphics/why-amds-radeon-graphics-cards-are-almost-impossible-to-buy-right-now.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/3199257/components-graphics/...

nullnilvoid 9y ago
GPU's are still used in mining. But the majority of large-scale miners use ASIC chips to mine coins. ASIC chips are just more efficient and powerful. They are designed only for mining.
Nursie 9y ago
GPUs are used mostly for ethereum, ZEC, Monero etc now. I get the impression that the massive crypto-currency datacentres in China are mostly BTC and LTC ASIC operations. It could be good for gamers if BTC crashes and ETH and the others crash alongside it, making mining unprofitable. FYI in the last couple of months price pressure seems to have switched to the nVidia GTX 1070 cards as the Radeons have been overinflated or just unavailable, and the 1070 has a good price/performance ratio for mining too...

wmf 9y ago

Mine in China, sell the BTC in Europe.

danmaz74 9y ago

I think that big miners wouldn't have such a big problem if the exchanges get shut down - as long as they export bitcoins and import dollars or other currencies, buying those in foreign cryptoexchanges, the government should be happy. What the government probably doesn't like is the other way around, when normal people buy BTC with yuan and then sell them abroad, exporting capitals.

aecorredor 9y ago
"What the government probably doesn't like is the other way around, when normal people buy BTC with yuan and then sell them abroad, exporting capitals." Don't they also get some type of currency back when they do this? which is probably then spent inside China too? I don't see how this would be different from the first scenario. Maybe I'm missing something.
- danmaz74 9y ago
  It depends: if their goal is to export capitals, when they get foreign currency by selling the BTC they bought in China, they will keep that currency abroad and invest it there. Of course you can do the same with mining - instead of buying BTC at exchanges - but this will require first investing in China to buy China built mining equipment and operate your mine. That's the difference I see.

rothbardrand 9y ago

OCT BTC trading is legal in china. The issue is with the exchanges not being fully regulated according to the desires of the PBOC. This was the problem earlier in the year. They are tightening the screws. But you can sell BTC to people you know face to face and it's legal.