China’s Ghost Hashrate — How Beijing Still Powers Bitcoin from the Shadows

Banned but not broken: China quietly fuels 14% of the global Bitcoin network, proving that in crypto, power never disappears — it just migrates.

⚡ Quick Hits

• 🇨🇳 China accounts for ~14% of global Bitcoin hashrate, behind the U.S. and Russia
• ⚡ 145 EH/s mined from regions like Xinjiang despite the 2021 ban
• 🏭 95% of Bitcoin mining hardware still produced by Chinese firms
• 🔐 Risks: cybersecurity, protocol concentration, trade dependencies
• 💬 Analysts: “China isn’t gone — it’s gone underground.”

🏴‍☠️ The Ban That Didn’t Kill Mining

China once ruled Bitcoin — with cheap energy, vast mining farms, and full access to top-tier ASIC manufacturers. Then came the 2021 crackdown: a full-scale ban on mining and crypto transactions, justified by the People’s Bank of China as a fight against “financial crime and systemic risk.”

But Bitcoin, as always, found a way.

Today, according to Luxor’s Q4 2025 Global Hashrate Map, China produces 145 exahashes per second, or roughly 14% of the global total — a rise from 13.8% last quarter.

Regions like Xinjiang remain silent hotspots, where operations run in regulatory twilight — technically illegal, practically unstoppable.

Bitcoin’s cypherpunk truth remains intact: You can ban it on paper, but as long as someone has power and hardware, the network lives.

⚙️ The Shadow Infrastructure

These aren’t rogue miners with laptops — they’re industrial-scale farms running covertly under the radar, often tapping local energy networks.

For context, Iran now contributes 0.75% of global hashrate (≈8 EH/s), showing that bans don’t erase mining; they just relocate it to the margins.

That’s the paradox of decentralization: every attempt to suppress Bitcoin only proves its resilience.

Still, China’s underground mining ecosystem presents deeper concerns — not in hashpower alone, but in manufacturing control.

🏭 The 95% Problem

Over 95% of all Bitcoin mining hardware still originates from China-based companies like Bitmain, MicroBT, and Canaan.

That industrial dominance carries real geopolitical weight — and three layers of systemic risk:

1. Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities: Firmware updates or hardware backdoors could theoretically disrupt electricity grids or coordinated mining pools abroad.
2. Protocol Concentration: A high dependency on Chinese-made ASICs creates theoretical exposure to 51% attack scenarios — especially under geopolitical tension.
3. Market Fragility: Trade sanctions or tariff escalations on Chinese mining hardware would reshape global BTC economics overnight.

“If Chinese-made miners were exploited in a coordinated attack, it could trigger cascading failures across power networks,” warns Sanjay Gupta, Chief Strategy Officer at Auradine.

The message: Bitcoin may be decentralized — but its supply chain is not.

🧠 Geopolitics of Hashrate

Bitcoin’s geographic decentralization is stronger than ever, but its hardware dependency tells another story. China’s historical lead has created an infrastructure layer that still powers global mining operations — even when the policy winds turned hostile.

For Western and Middle Eastern miners, the takeaway is clear: Diversify supply chains. Invest in local ASIC manufacturing. Build energy-responsive operations.

Because while hashpower may shift globally, the hardware arteries still run through Shenzhen.

⚖️ The Balance of Power

No, China is no longer the king of Bitcoin mining. But calling it irrelevant would be delusional.

Its influence now flows through hardware, logistics, and legacy infrastructure — not dominance, but direction.

China has moved offstage, not out of the theater — quietly shaping how Bitcoin evolves from behind the curtains.

The global hashrate distribution proves Bitcoin’s strength: decentralized enough to survive bans, but not immune to geopolitics.

🌐 Bigger Picture

Bitcoin was designed to be stateless — but never apolitical. The continued presence of Chinese miners reveals both the brilliance and fragility of that design.

Regulators can legislate borders. Miners can’t. As long as there’s cheap energy and available hardware, Bitcoin’s map will redraw itself — again and again.

China’s ghost hashrate is proof that Bitcoin isn’t run by governments or corporations. It’s run by persistence.

TL;DR

• 🇨🇳 China now contributes ~14% of global Bitcoin hashrate, despite a 2021 ban
• ⚙️ Underground operations in Xinjiang and elsewhere continue to mine at scale
• 🏭 95% of ASICs still come from Chinese manufacturers — a major dependency
• ⚠️ Risks: cybersecurity, trade restrictions, protocol centralization
• 💡 Lesson: Bitcoin survives regulation — but hardware centralization remains its Achilles’ heel
• 🧩 China has moved from the spotlight to the shadows, but still shapes the future of Bitcoin