Zhejiang: Immediately stop using virtual currency "mining" equipment and confiscate it according to law

Recently, the Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission issued the "Notice of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Provincial Department of Justice on the Regulation of Virtual Currency "Mining" Equipment."

The notice pointed out that virtual currency "mining" activities consume a lot of energy and emit a lot of carbon, and have a low contribution to national economic activities. They are backward production process equipment that the state has explicitly ordered to be eliminated. "Mining" equipment should generally include electronic computing equipment (such as graphics cards, motherboards, etc.), "mining" software and mining pool access records, including but not limited to field programmable gate array (FPGA) mining machines, central processing unit (CPU) mining machines, graphics card (GPU) mining machines, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining machines, etc.

The notice requires that, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2019 Edition)" and the "Energy Conservation Law of the People's Republic of China", the use of virtual currency "mining" equipment should be stopped immediately and confiscated according to law. If an enterprise participates in virtual currency "mining" activities and the circumstances are serious, the people's government at the same level shall be requested to order it to suspend business for rectification or close down in accordance with the authority prescribed by the State Council.

The notice also requires that all relevant units should formulate work plans, refine the division of responsibilities, and do a good job in investigating virtual currency "mining" activities in accordance with work requirements. Provincial energy conservation authorities will guide local governments to strengthen administrative law enforcement on virtual currency "mining" activities.