Bitmain Halts Sales Of Bitcoin Mining Rigs Amid China’s Crackdown

Miners relocating out of Bitcoin mining regions in China have flooded the market with second-hand mining machines to the detriment of Bitmain’s new devices.

Most miners are now looking to move to Texas or Kazakhstan

Bitmain Technologies Ltd, a global leader in the manufacture of mining rigs, has reportedly halted sales on its Bitcoin mining machines.

The Chinese-based company says its decision to suspend all sales of mining hardware follows a dip in prices as miners exit China amid a severe crackdown from authorities.

The past two months have been particularly tough for Bitcoin miners in China, with authorities blocking accounts and shutting down mining operations. Last week, authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan closed 26 mines, adding to the nationwide crackdown as miners seek to relocate out of the country.

The result has been a flooding of the market with a stockpile of second-hand machines, severely cutting into Bitmain’s global spot sales.

According to local news outlet Jiemian, current market prices for most of the rig maker’s products are at “panic” lows.

For instance, the latest onslaught by Chinese authorities on Bitcoin mining in Sichuan saw the price of the firm’s prized rig – the Antminer S19 – decline from $6,175 on 15 June to retail at around $4,631 on 23 June. Overall, the hardware’s market price had declined by as much as 75% since early April.

It is not clear when Bitmain intends to lift the suspension on the sale of new mining rigs. A source close to the company told Jiemian that the move to halt sales was the “general direction” for now, with specific details likely to follow soon.

Elsewhere, Bitcoin’s hashrate fell to new lows this week following the clampdown, plummeting from a peak of 180.7 exahashes per second (EH/s) in May to around 110.6 EH/s on 24 June.

Bitcoin price has also suffered from the China-related FUD, with the top cryptocurrency’s price dipping below $30,000 this week. As of writing, the BTC/USD pair is trading around $33,297, down 2.18% and 15.14% over the past 24-hours and seven days, respectively.