How a Bitcoin mining ban in China could impact BTC's price and security

China's central planning agency announced plans to ban Bitcoin mining and is currently soliciting comments before it makes its final determination.

Mining and cryptocurrency experts have mixed opinions on how the move will impact the security and price of BTC.China Dominates Cryptocurrency Mining.

China is the world's largest manufacturer of Bitcoin ASICs and specialized cryptocurrency mining hardware.

Although the exact percent of the network's hashrate coming from Bitcoin mining physically taking place in China is unknown, the abundance of cheap hardware and electricity in the country suggests that it leads in this area as well.

8th, China's National Development and Reform Commission-an agency responsible for macroeconomic policy which has broad administrative and planning control over the Chinese economy-announced it was planning to ban Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining, as first reported by Reuters.

According to a source working at the firm, the ban would only restrict the physical mining of cryptocurrency and not the production of specialized hardware.

If mining is centralized in China, then the abolition of cryptocurrency mining in the country could limit China's ability to tamper with Bitcoin-increasing security and further decentralizing the network.

As miners are displaced from China then mining would move to other higher-cost geographies and thus increase the cost of mining per coin, assuming the hashrate remains the same.

It's disputed whether the cost of mining follows or leads the price of bitcoin, meaning it could have little impact on price despite its correlation.

Once enacted bitcoin mining would be phased out immediately, according to the document.