The China Bitcoin ban that didn’t happen

Every year, it seems, we revisit one of Bitcoin’s most cherished traditions: news reports surface that China bans bitcoin, or bitcoin mining, or crypto trading (or some combination therein), and then the reports are debunked.

Well, welcome to Groundhog Day. 

Over the weekend, a handful of news-aggregation gimmick accounts – looking at you, Unusual Whales – circulated unsubstantiated news that China “has officially banned cryptocurrency trading, mining, and related services.” 

It’s unclear where this information came from, or what sourcing (if any) these accounts used. But they are false, not the least of which because China already banned bitcoin mining on a province-by-province basis in 2021. 

“It’s fake news. There’s no official announcement or ruling,” Luxor Head of Hardware, Lauren Lin, told Blockspace.

Lin would know, as she works full time covering the broker relationship with multiple Asian-based entities.

She added that the Chinese government has not updated any documentation on its website that would indicate any changes or addendums to the 2021 ban. 

“The State Council of the People's Republic of China holds the highest executive power, making its pronouncements the definitive source,” Lin said. “While local governments, the central banking system, and judicial system may issue their own rules, these must always align with the State Council's directives.”

China moved to ban bitcoin mining in the summer of 2021. Per an official order dated September 3, 2025 from China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the new law “strictly prohibit[s] the addition of new virtual currency ‘mining’ projects [and] accelerate[s] the orderly exit of existing projects.”

China’s bitcoin mining ban became one of – if not the most – consequential event in the history of Bitcoin mining.  The watershed development pushed mining operations out of the country, and the ensuing diaspora reshuffled hashrate all over the globe. The United States quickly emerged as the world’s largest bitcoin mining hub, with Luxor’s Hashrate Index estimating that the U.S. currently houses more than one third of Bitcoin’s hashrate. 

However, the ban didn’t rid China of bitcoin mining entirely. Hashrate Index also estimates that China still produces 13.84% of Bitcoin’s hashrate. That’s nowhere close to the University of Cambridge’s estimate that China produced 71% right before the ban. But it’s not trivial, either, and it’s evidence that plenty of well-connected (or clandestine) bitcoin miners can still operate in the country if they know the right people (or if they are sneaky enough). 

In fact, contrary to the fake news of renewed bans, there are industry reports that China might actually be relaxing its ban, or at least that Chinese miners are becoming more confident that they can expand operations without running afoul of the government. Lin noted that Luxor has “observed increasing interest in mining hardware in China lately.”

Maybe if mining activity increases enough in the country, the Chinese government will issue new guidance. But right now, there’s no confirmation that it is cracking down further (or easing up).

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