World: The value of major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, and ripple crashed on Wednesday. The values fell after China’s Anhui province announced sweeping plans to ban cryptocurrency mining.
As Beijing intensifies its crackdown on the industry, this is the latest region to block the power-hungry practice. Bitcoin fell roughly 4 percent on Wednesday morning standing at $31,500 a token. With this, it has reached the lowest point in nearly three weeks after the province announced its plans to phase out cryptocurrency mining within three years.
According to a 2020 study, China is the source of the majority of the world’s cryptocurrency trade. China accounts for nearly 80 percent of global bitcoin operations. The ban comes amid a wider crackdown on the crypto industry in China. Other major cryptocurrencies Ether, Cardano, and Ripple lost between 5 to 6.5 percent on Wednesday morning.
Earlier in May, Beijing renewed and intensified efforts to regulate cryptocurrencies in China. Sources claim that the reason behind this was environmental concerns and the need to preserve order and stability in the country. Beijing banned crypto exchanges back in 2017 and the authorities increased their focus on bitcoin mining. The recent crackdown in China has prompted some of the major crashes in the crypto market and blunted interest in major tokens.