Journalist
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In a risky market, even a small shock can cause massive FUD.
The crypto market has seen this pattern repeatedly. For example, Donald Trump’s tariff announcement in October triggered a staggering $19 billion liquidation cascade, marking a major turning point for the remainder of the fourth quarter.
A similar scheme now appears to be emerging. Reports of a renewed Bitcoin [BTC] China’s mining crackdown led to new FUD. The story gained traction after BTC’s hashrate dropped around 8%, adding to the market’s fear.
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However, many dismiss this as simple ‘speculation’.
For context, the story picked up steam after Jack Jianping Kong, posted on X that BTC mining in Xinjiang was under scrutiny. Two days later he claimed that at least 400,000 miners had been shut down in China.
Consequently, the post was cited as evidence of a large-scale shutdown. That said, with The hashrate of Bitcoin With an 8% drop, it’s worth asking: was this just a coincidence, or could it mark the start of a new market move?
Tracking Bitcoin pools to separate noise from reality
Bitcoin’s hashrate fell sharply, but the story is more complicated.
The question is whether the drop came solely from Xinjiang, signaling a crackdown on Chinese Bitcoin mining. To help answer this, the chart below highlights the hashrate of BTC as reported by several mining pools.
Most of the biggest declines came specifically from North American pools like Foundry USA, which lost a combined 200 EH/s. Meanwhile, China-based pools such as Antpool and F2Pool were down around 100 EH/s together.
Source: Miningpoolstats.stream
Simply put, China’s Bitcoin shutdown looks overdone.
By December 18, most pools had even returned to normal levels, showing that the dip was temporary. At the same time, some miners are likely to have been temporarily disabled to avoid inspections.
Overall, the data points to a short-lived disruption rather than a major freeze in Bitcoin mining. This highlights another FUD moment and reminds us that it’s critical to dive into the data before following the “hype.”
Final thoughts
- Bitcoin’s hashrate dip made headlines, but most pools had recovered, showing that the drop was temporary and not a complete shutdown of China.
- Initial reports of a loss of 100 EH/s were exaggerated, highlighting the importance of carefully analyzing data before responding to the market hype.