The technology at the core of many crypto-currencies, including Bitcoin, relies on many distributed computers verifying and checking transactions on a giant shared ledger known as the blockchain.
As a reward, new “coins” are randomly awarded to those who take part in this work – known as crypto “mining”.
China, with its relatively low electricity costs and cheaper computer hardware, has long been one of the world’s main centres for mining.
The activity is so popular there that gamers have sometimes blamed the industry for a global shortage of powerful graphics cards, which miners use for processing crypto-currencies.
The Chinese crackdown has already hit the mining industry.
In September 2019, China accounted for 75% of the world’s Bitcoin energy use. By April 2021, that had fallen to 46%.
