Big news. China is in the process of shutting down Bitcoin mining operations and is using a variety of tactics to do the job. Up to and including increasing the price of electricity in remote areas of the country to make it less viable.
China has shut down cryptocurrency exchanges before and while that's huge, it's not as big a deal as shutting down mining operations. Closed exchanges affects the Chinese population, while shutting down mining operations affects the world.
China is, by far, the biggest contributor to the Bitcoin network and processing payments through their mega-mines. Shutting those down will have a massive affect across the board.
Not just in the price. But in transaction speed, which is already lagging badly.
In my mind, the real effect of the Chinese closure of Bitcoin farms will be on (a) the fees involved in transacting Bitcoin and (b) the traffic jam and slow transactions the network already faces.
With fewer computers processing payments, that means that Bitcoin will be slower and be more expensive to transact with.
Newbie investors will buy into Bitcoins still, but anyone who trades coins will look elsewhere for other coins to trade with because Bitcoin may no longer be viable. If that isn't the case already.
On the upside, the China ban on Bitcoin mines will have a beneficial effect on the price of #Ethereum and some #Altcoins will gain dominance and share in the windfall. As a result of all of this, I expect that #Ethereum will make up some ground on #Bitcoin and close the gap in market cap.
China closing down #Bitcoin mines is a significant event and investors should watch out for the effect of it. While it's a stretch to say that this is a 'death nail' for #Bitcoin, it is certainly not good news.
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Brendan Rohan - Indie developer of 'next gen' natural medicine from Melbourne, Australia
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DISCLAIMER: This article is written by an amateur investor and is offered purely for information purposes. This is not financial advice and you should always seek the advice of a finance professional.