The virtual currency "mining" rectification action has entered the stage of regular supervision. The National Development and Reform Commission has made arrangements for the next stage of work

Our reporter Li Wen and trainee reporter Zhang Bo

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission organized a special video conference on the governance of virtual currency "mining" to report on the monitoring and rectification of the matter and make arrangements for the next stage of work. The meeting emphasized that all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities should resolutely implement the relevant arrangements for the rectification of virtual currency "mining", earnestly assume local responsibilities, establish systems, strengthen monitoring, clean up and rectify virtual currency "mining" activities in their regions, and strictly investigate and punish such activities involving computer rooms of state-owned units.

In fact, the domestic rectification work in the fields of virtual currency transactions and mining has been basically completed and has entered the stage of normalized supervision. All departments and localities are continuing to carry out related work.

Since May, my country's regulatory authorities have taken action to rectify the cryptocurrency ecosystem and regulate and guide the development of the industry. The People's Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and other places have taken measures to crack down on virtual currency transactions and mining, and have done a lot of work in many aspects such as rectification and withdrawal, publicity and education, and system construction.

On September 24, the regulatory authorities took another strong approach. The National Development and Reform Commission and 11 other departments further issued the "Notice on the Rectification of Virtual Currency "Mining" Activities", proposing to "strengthen the supervision of the entire upstream and downstream industry chain of virtual currency "mining" activities", further preventing the resurgence of domestic virtual currency "mining" and other activities. On the same day, the People's Bank of China and ten other departments also issued policies to rectify "virtual currency speculation".

"Regulatory authorities continue to take action for reasons such as preventing local systemic risks, protecting investors' interests and maintaining normal market order." Zhou Maohua, a macro-researcher at the Financial Markets Department of China Everbright Bank, said in an interview with a reporter from Securities Daily that virtual currencies can easily be used for money laundering, illegal fundraising, tax evasion and other illegal and criminal activities; at the same time, virtual currency "mining" led by Bitcoin has problems such as high energy consumption and non-compliance with the dual-carbon strategy, and has been widely criticized.

The reporter of Securities Daily noted that since the release of the "9.24 New Regulations" to regulate virtual currency, various localities have requested to conduct in-depth inspections again, carry out special inspections, and regularly test electricity usage to ensure that all mining equipment is dismantled and moved away, and strictly investigate "fish that slipped through the net". According to incomplete statistics, since October, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Dongguan and other provinces and cities have disclosed relevant work on virtual currency "mining".

Specifically, Zhejiang and Jiangsu conducted a comprehensive investigation. Zhejiang found that 184 IP addresses of 77 units in the province were suspected of using public resources to engage in mining. Jiangsu found that the total number of Internet IP addresses involved in "mining" was 4,502, consuming 260,000 kWh/day. Inner Mongolia and Dongguan disclosed the situation of investigating and handling mining machines. The Development and Reform Commission of Bayannur City, Inner Mongolia, seized 10,100 virtual currency "mining machines". Dongguan City found that some companies used computer and graphics card recycling business to implement virtual currency mining, and seized more than 260 mining machines in two places.

In addition, the "Beijing Implementation Plan for Further Strengthening Energy Conservation" issued by Beijing also emphasized the investigation and clearance of virtual currency "mining" activities. Prior to this, in early September, Gansu and Hebei also deployed special rectification actions against virtual currency "mining" and trading activities, and carried out regular supervision.

From the perspective of mining companies, affected by domestic regulatory policies, many mining companies such as Bitmain, Spark Mining Pool, Bee Mining Pool, Easy Miner, and graphics card mining machine management software NBMINER have stopped serving mainland users or shut down completely.

Song Jingyi, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, told a reporter from Securities Daily that virtual currency "mining" carries a lot of computing power, operates day and night, has high power and electricity consumption, and privately connecting circuits to steal electricity for "mining" is suspected of theft. In addition, the untraceability and information asymmetry of virtual currency "mining" give criminals an opportunity to take advantage of it. A large amount of funds flow into the virtual currency market, and various mining-related crimes such as money-making, fraud and fundraising are emerging in an endless stream.

(Edited by Cui Mancai Shandan)