Bitcoin mining in China is on the rise despite the introduction of a nationwide ban four years ago, according to the latest industry data.

China now accounts for 14 percent of all Bitcoin mining activity, having dropped to nearly zero after Beijing imposed a blanket ban on crypto mining and trading in 2021.

The resurgence means China now has the third-largest market share globally at the end of October, figures from Hashrate Index revealed.

Only the United States and Russia rank above it, with both countries also seeing their hashpower increase in 2025.

The Chinese government has not officially reversed its policy, but enforcement appears to have softened for such an uptick in mining activity to occur.

Spurred on by the record-breaking Bitcoin price rally between 2024 and 2025, Chinese crypto miners began quietly resuming operations in regions like Xinjiang and Sichuan, where electricity is cheap and abundant. 

Government investment schemes in the tech sector mean there is also a glut of computing infrastructure in the country, which has the necessary cooling capacity and power setups to house the mining operations.

Major Bitcoin mining rig manufacturers have seen a massive shift back towards China this year, with Singapore-based Canaan reportedly seeing more than half of its revenue during the second quarter coming from sales in China.

In an emailed statement to Reuters, the company declined to confirm its second-quarter sales figures, but noted that the sale of mining machines is permitted in China.

“Chinese policy flexibility emerges when economic incentives are strong in specific regions,” Patrick Gruhn, CEO of crypto infrastructure provider Perpetuals, told the news agency.

“The resurgence of mining activity in China is one of the most important signals the market has seen in years… Even hints of China’s policy easing could act as a tailwind for bitcoin’s narrative as a global, state-resilient asset.”

The 2021 ban in China initially caused a major restructuring of hashrate across the globe, with China accounting for around two-thirds of the global Bitcoin mining hashrate in 2020.

Another shakeup may be about to occur amid plummeting mining profitability. The hashprice – the revenue miners earn per unit of computing power – fell to historic lows this week, reinforcing an industry shift towards HPC/AI computing.

The falling hash price is partly due to the price of Bitcoin, which has dropped in value by nearly a third since hitting an all-time high of around $125,000 in October, as well as the increased network competition from China.