TL; DR Breakdown
- Miami Mayor wants Chinese Bitcoin miners to relocate to the city
- City to offer cheap nuclear power for miners
- Miners are fleeing from government crackdown in China
China hasn’t been a good operating environment for Bitcoin miners for years, but the situation has never been worse than it is today. BTC and other cryptos have been illegal in China for years. The country even went ahead to kick out crypto exchanges a few years ago. For example, Binance Exchange was founded and started operations in China, but it had to relocate to a more crypto-friendly region after the Chinese government went all out against the exchanges.
Despite being banned, miners have been operating under the radar for years, but things went further South in May when the government launched a crackdown. Now, BTC miners find themselves without a secure corner to run their operations in China, forcing them to relocate to other countries. That’s where the Mayor of Miami comes in. Francis Suarez is doing his best to get the relocating miners to set up bases in Miami. He said as much during an interview.
Bitcoin mining in China
As mentioned, the Chinese government has been anti-crypto and any related activities for years, but Bitcoin miners have still been operating in the country. In fact, China-based BTC mining operations account for over 60% of Bitcoin network’s hashrate.
The main reason for the big-muscle miners choosing to operate in China is the relatively low power costs. Electricity is cheap in china, and that’s good for miners especially considering that Bitcoin mining consumes a lot of power. Now that China is tightening the screws on them, they’re looking for places to run their operations at affordable power costs. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez seems to have a solution for them.
Miami is enticing miners
Francis Suarez is a fan of Bitcoin, having bought some for himself just recently. He understands that miners need low power prices to break-even. There’s affordable nuclear power in Miami, an advantage that the mayor hopes the Chinese miners will identify and capitalize on. In fact, Suarez has promised to work with the miners and find a way to decrease electricity costs for their operations.
Besides offering them cheap power from nukes, the city of Miami will assign special zones for miners. In these areas, they’ll enjoy tailored infrastructure, tax incentives, and friendly regulations. Since China went to war with miners back in May, Texas has been the major go-to place, but Miami could now be putting up a major fight to attract a decent percentage of them.
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