What’s Mine Is Mine: China Spooks With Mining Legality Blunder

A Chinese electricity provider has caused confusion after it sent a notice to clients telling them to deny service to “illegal” Bitcoin miners.

According to multiple sources including local Caixin, Sichuan Electric Power Company had issued a statement deeming Bitcoin mining illegal in China and that the practice should stop immediately.

Subsequently, local news resource cnLedger confirmed the CEO had retracted the statement having made “mistakes” about legality.

“The head of that company has clarified that they made mistakes on the statement, as they are not a government administrative department, and have no rights to determine whether Bitcoin mining is illegal,” it wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

The head of that company has clarified that they made mistakes on the statement, as they are not a government administrative department, and have no rights to determine whether bitcoin mining is illegal https://t.co/GahxiKQDCd — cnLedger (@cnLedger) November 14, 2017

News of a potential ban on mining in China had caught many by surprise. Despite the country’s outlawing of Bitcoin-to-fiat exchanges and ICOs, mining continued without issue.

Indeed, Bitcoin’s thought leaders have expressed opinions that state-sponsored handshaking is so deeply entrenched in the industry that it would likely never disappear.

The impetus for this week’s notice thus remains unclear. If not illegal, any further reshaping of China’s mining landscape remains to be made clear.

Reports meanwhile that Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu skipped the Hong Kong Ethereum Classic Summit due to the events were dismissed online as “fake news.”