China shuts down software maker as crackdown on digital currency mining intensifies

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China is not letting up on its crackdown on the digital currency block reward mining industry. In its latest move, it has shut down a Beijing-based software maker that was allegedly offering block reward mining services. The country’s central bank also fired a warning to other firms, reiterating its stand against the industry.

China’s anti-block reward mining stance continued to intensify in recent weeks. The South China Morning Post reported recently that up to 90% of all miners in China have now been booted out of the country. The government has continued to clamp down on the renegade firms, setting up hotlines and imposing social credit blacklisting.

The latest victim of the crackdown is Beijing Qudao Cultural Development Company, a firm that was registered in 2016 and described itself to be in marketing, entertainment and public relations. However, Chinese regulators said the company was “providing software services to crypto trading activities.”

In a joint statement, the Beijing Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau and the Business Administration Department of People’s Bank of China revealed they had deactivated the company. Its website has also been taken down following the regulatory actions.

In their statement, the two regulators warned all the firms in Beijing against offering any services to block reward miners, including marketing or business premises. Financial service providers in the capital are also remined not to provide any services to digital currency-related entities.

This warning is in tandem with recent moves meant to ensure digital currency users are barred from accessing basic banking services. As CoinGeek reported two weeks ago, the PBoC ordered all commercial banks to cut off all ties with digital currency clients, singling out over-the-counter trading merchants as being of particular concern.

China’s crackdown on miners has vastly affected the digital currency industry, even in the Bitcoin (BSV) ecosystem. Lars Jorgensen, the chief operating officer of TAAL Distributed Information Technologies Inc. told CoinGeek:

“The fact is that the miners are being turned off. It doesn’t really matter what you mine, they are being turned off.”

One of the silver linings of the China crackdown has been that the focus on energy consumption has become more intense than ever before. Digital currencies that are highly inefficient like BTC are getting the heat, and rightly so.

The BSV enterprise blockchain continues to stand out in regards to energy efficiency. Jorgensen captured the difference in Bitcoin (BSV) and BTC, stating, “A block with 1 million transactions does not require more energy to mine than a block with one or no transactions, so the more you can pack in, the more efficiency you can get out.”

Watch: CoinGeek Zurich panel, BSV is Green Bitcoin: Energy Consumption & Environmental Sustainability