The Chinese bitcoin mining pool ViaBTC has announced that it will close its mining contracts market this week, a move that comes amid new reports of a ban by the country's authorities.
In a statement on January 8, ViaBTC said it would close the market - through which users can buy contracts that entitle a certain amount of hash power (and associated crypto-coins) - on Jan. 10. The reason: the company wants to "control speculation and protect the interests of our investors".
"Please complete all of your cloud mining contract trades as soon as possible. Thank you all for your support, "added ViaBTC.
ViaBTC launched its cloud mining service for the first time in November 2016.
The closure comes months after ViaBTC ended its exchange of crypto-currencies in response to a crackdown by Chinese officials on the country's exchange ecosystem, a process that began shortly after the start of 2016. Officials also moved to ban ICOs in September .
However, although there is no clear indication that the two events are related, the latest announcement follows new reports that China officials are seeking a gradual shutdown of domestic bitcoin mining operations.
According to documents distributed over the weekend and assigned to a Chinese regulator, officials want to reduce support to local miners by calling for measures around power and land use. One of the documents requested that employees prepare plans for this process by the 10th.
A representative of the agency's Xinjiang office confirmed the veracity of the documentation for Quartz, but declined to comment further.
As further illustrated by Bloomberg, China's miners are leaving the country, looking at new locations in Europe and North America.