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The bidding behavior of the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission is a concrete manifestation of using technological means to further implement virtual currency regulatory policies, and also demonstrates the firm attitude of the Inner Mongolia authorities.
On September 15, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission announced the "Results of the Bid Winning (Transaction) Project on Cleaning Up Virtual Currency 'Mining' Policy Mechanism Research Project." Inner Mongolia Mengze Engineering Management Service Co., Ltd. won the bid for the project with a bid price of 295,000 yuan.
A reporter from Blockchain Daily learned that the project is a research project on the policy mechanism for cleaning up virtual currency "mining" in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, in order to continuously analyze and discover the virtual currency mining secretly carried out in Inner Mongolia.
In fact, as early as 2019, the relevant departments in Inner Mongolia issued a policy to clean up virtual currency mining, and conducted on-site inspections of more than 30 big data and cloud computing companies in 2020 and found that 21 of them were actually crypto mines, including mining machine manufacturers Bitmain and Ebang International.
In May this year, Inner Mongolia took the lead in launching a new round of virtual currency mining rectification activities in China. On May 25, the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission issued the "Eight Measures of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission on Resolutely Cracking Down on and Punishing Virtual Currency "Mining" Behavior (Draft for Comments)".
The "Eight Measures" strictly prohibit virtual currency mining for industrial parks, enterprises, Internet cafes, civil servants, individuals and other entities. The punishment for violators can be described as "unprecedented", including revoking licenses, adding them to the untrustworthy blacklist, referring them to the disciplinary inspection and supervision authorities for handling, and referring them to the judicial authorities for handling.
Industry insiders said in an interview with the Blockchain Daily that although rectification is being carried out across the country, there are still virtual currency "mining" companies in some areas that use the "big data industry" as a package to enjoy preferential policies in electricity, land, taxes, etc. and evade supervision. The daily management of virtual currency mining and transactions must not be taken lightly, and should be monitored and supervised with the help of technological means, focusing on pre-emptive prevention, in-process control, and post-event disposal.
The bidding behavior of the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission is a concrete manifestation of using technological means to further implement virtual currency regulatory policies, and also demonstrates the firm attitude of the Inner Mongolia authorities.
Technical means to monitor virtual currency mining
On September 8, the official website of the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission released the "Announcement on Competitive Consultation and Procurement for the Policy Mechanism Research Project on "Cleaning Up Virtual Currency Mining"."
The announcement introduced that the main contents of this research project include 10 items: (1) the origin and development process of virtual currency; (2) the domestic and foreign positions and attitudes towards virtual currency "mining" and the regulatory situation; (3) the original intention of our district to introduce big data and cloud computing companies and the preferential policies provided; (4) the basic situation of virtual currency "mining" projects in our district (including costs, benefits, labor and electricity consumption, taxes, etc.); (5) the distribution of virtual currency "mining" entities in our district; (6) the use of technical means to identify virtual currency "mining" projects and big data and cloud computing projects; (7) analysis of electricity consumption of mainstream mining machines and servers; (8) the relevant basis for cleaning up virtual currency "mining" behavior; (9) the impact on achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality and completing the dual control targets of energy consumption; (10) policy research related to establishing a long-term regulatory mechanism for virtual currency "mining" behavior, etc.
The announcement shows that the project budget is within 300,000 yuan and the bid opening time is 9:30 am on September 15.
At 16:39 on September 15, the official website of the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission further disclosed the winning bid of the project. Inner Mongolia Mengze Engineering Management Service Co., Ltd. won the bid with a bid amount of 295,000 yuan.
According to the industrial and commercial information displayed by Tianyancha, Inner Mongolia Mengze Engineering Management Service Co., Ltd. was established on June 23, 2017 with a registered capital of 5 million yuan. The legal representative is Ju Huhu. It is mainly engaged in engineering design and planning, bidding agency, engineering project integration and other engineering project management services. From 2018 to 2020, the company won bids for 9 government projects in Sichuan and Inner Mongolia.
A reporter from Blockchain Daily called the phone number left on the company's business information, but it turned out to be an invalid number.
Inner Mongolia has been at the forefront of the country in cracking down on virtual currency mining. On May 19 this year, the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission issued a report on virtual currency "mining" companies. The reporter of "Blockchain Daily" called the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission at that time, and the other party said that virtual currency mining companies have very high energy consumption, and they have almost no contribution to local taxes or the economy. In the future, Inner Mongolia's supervision of virtual currency mining will continue to be high-pressure.
Then on May 25, the Inner Mongolia Development and Reform Commission issued the "strictest in history" eight measures. For industrial parks, data centers, self-contained power plants and other entities that provide venues and power support for virtual currency "mining" companies, those who deliberately conceal and fail to report, fail to clear and shut down in a timely manner, and fail to approve and supervise properly will be held accountable in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and party regulations.
For the entities involved in virtual currency "mining", if big data centers, cloud computing companies and other entities participate in virtual currency "mining" activities, they will all be cleared out, the personnel involved in mining will be put on the untrustworthy blacklist, and public officials involved in mining will be transferred to the disciplinary inspection and supervision authorities for handling.
If communications companies, Internet companies and other entities engage in virtual currency "mining", the competent authorities will revoke their value-added telecommunications business licenses in accordance with the law and hold them accountable; if Internet cafes and other entities engage in virtual currency "mining", the competent authorities will suspend their business and carry out other measures in accordance with the law.
Bitmain and Ebang International were once investigated in Inner Mongolia. As a major electricity-producing province, Inner Mongolia has always been a key area for Bitcoin mining companies and miners. Especially in winter, when hydropower resources in the south shrink, mining companies and miners transport a large number of machines to Inner Mongolia.
The Inner Mongolia authorities have maintained a high-pressure stance on virtual currency mining, but mining companies and miners have played a "cat and mouse game" with the authorities.
As early as November 2019, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Industry and Information Technology Department issued the "Notice on Inspecting, Cleaning Up and Rectifying Virtual Currency "Mining" Enterprises by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Industry and Information Technology Department, Development and Reform Commission, Public Security Department, Local Financial Supervision and Administration Bureau, and Big Data Development Management Bureau" (Inner Mongolia Industry and Information Technology No. [2019] 384) (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice").
The Notice pointed out that the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Joint Inspection Team went to some leagues and cities to conduct a joint inspection on the cleanup and rectification of virtual currency "mining" enterprises. The main contents of the inspection include analyzing the materials reported by the leagues and cities, based on the relevant data held by the autonomous region, focusing on finding out virtual currency "mining" enterprises that have nothing to do with the real economy, evade supervision, consume a lot of energy, and use the "big data industry" as a package to enjoy local electricity prices, land and taxation preferential policies.
According to the China Times, in August 2020, relevant departments in Inner Mongolia conducted on-site inspections of more than 30 big data and cloud computing companies and found that 21 of them were actually virtual currency mining farms, so they issued a suspension notice. It is reported that these include two subsidiaries of Bitmain and one subsidiary of Ebang International.
Relevant personnel from Bitmain responded to the reporter from Blockchain Daily today that Inner Mongolia is an important city in the virtual currency mining industry. At that time, Bitmain did have a mining farm in Inner Mongolia, but the specific reasons for the investigation needed further understanding.
Yibang International told reporters that their mines in Inner Mongolia were previously mainly used for production testing, but they withdrew after the policies in Inner Mongolia became stricter.
Chen Xiaohua, an expert at the Whale Platform think tank and an expert in reviewing major industrial Internet blockchain projects of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the Blockchain Daily reporter that although a new round of rectification actions has been launched nationwide since May, there are still virtual currency "mining" companies in some areas that use the "big data industry" as a package to enjoy preferential policies in electricity, land, and taxes and evade supervision.
Chen Xiaohua further pointed out that all localities should not take lightly the daily management of virtual currency mining and transactions, and should use technological means to conduct routine supervision like Inner Mongolia, focusing on pre-emptive prevention, in-process control, and post-event disposal. |
