Pages: (25-38 )
Abstract
This study critically examines the political economy of cryptocurrency mining, focusing on China’s enduring dominance and its implications for global governance in the post-ban era. Before the 2021 regulatory crackdown, China accounted for over 65 per cent of the global Bitcoin hash rate, leveraging cheap electricity, advanced hardware manufacturing, and a favourable policy environment. Although the ban prompted a redistribution of mining activities to countries such as the United States and Kazakhstan, recent evidence shows that Chinese miners still control a substantial share of the global network through clandestine operations and industrial advantages. This paper applies World-Systems Theory and the Techno-Political Economy framework to analyse how mining power concentration reinforces global inequalities and geopolitical influence despite the ostensibly decentralised ethos of blockchain technologies. Drawing on qualitative analysis of secondary data from academic studies, industry reports, and regulatory documents, the study highlights how state power, infrastructural control, and energy politics intersect to shape the governance of digital finance. The findings reveal that China’s persistence in Bitcoin mining raises concerns about decentralisation, environmental sustainability, and the vulnerability of blockchain networks to state influence. The paper concludes by advocating for multilateral governance frameworks, sustainable mining incentives, and policies that encourage geographic decentralisation, emphasising the need for coordinated global action to balance innovation with energy, economic, and political considerations.
Keywords: Cryptocurrency Mining, China, Global Governance, Decentralisation, Bitcoin, Digital Sovereignty,