January 26, 2022 5:48 pm in Crypto

Why is Crypto Mining Being Banned in Some Countries?

The majority of individuals consider crypto mining to be nothing more than a method of generating new coins. On the other hand, crypto mining entails verifying bitcoin operations and putting them into a distributed ledger on a blockchain network. Most crucially, crypto mining prohibits electronic money from being spent twice on a decentralized network.

Whenever a user spends bitcoin, the digital ledger must always be updated by transferring money to one wallet and paying the other, just like with actual money. The disadvantage of digital money, on the other hand, is that online networks are readily influenced. As a result, the distributed ledger of Bitcoin permits only certified miners to update the digital record. This places an additional burden on miners to secure the network from double-spending.

Since its inception in 2009, Bitcoin, as well as the numerous cryptocurrencies that have followed, has been fraught with controversy. While Bitcoin has been extensively criticized for its inconsistency, usage in criminal activities, and excessive use of power to mine it, some people, particularly in poor countries, perceive it as a haven amid economic storms.

While the majority of nations do not make it unlawful to use Bitcoin, its position as a remittance method or an asset differs, with different regulatory repercussions. Some governments have imposed restrictions on how Bitcoin may be utilized, with financial institutions prohibiting their clients from transacting in the cryptocurrency. Some governments have explicitly prohibited the use of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, imposing stiff fines on anybody who transacts in them. The following are some of the reasons why various nations have banned cryptocurrency mining.

Lack of regulation and a central authority for the coins

Bitcoin’s progress is being closely monitored by governments all around the globe. They will not recognize it as lawful tender. Bitcoin has the potential to destabilize the current financial infrastructure system by removing intermediaries. Bitcoin proponents claim that cryptocurrency creates money out of thin air. The money is not backed by any real assets.

Whereas state financial institutions perform a responsibility in financial regulation, they lack the authority to control how it is implemented. This is a responsibility that falls on the state. Governments distribute and regulate money in society through a variety of avenues, notably the banking sector. As a result, they have more control over how it is transferred, spread, and employed. They ultimately profit from it by imposing taxes on individual and corporate income.

Bitcoin’s distributed architecture has the potential to undermine the aforementioned system. Its infrastructure removes middlemen as well as state-level features.

The currency, Cryptocurrency, can now be produced by anybody with a full link, removing the necessity for a banking system. The Bitcoin network’s peer-to-peer transactions eliminate the need for intermediaries to control and distribute money.

Cryptocurrency speculation is used to support illicit operations

Whereas all operations on the blockchain are recorded on the public ledger and can be viewed by anybody, the names of the transfer authors are anonymous. The transaction creator stays anonymous while operations are performed through one or many crypto addresses to one or more recipient destinations.

Criminals can exchange narcotics and firearms in this manner, ostensibly discreetly. Terrorists can also solicit funds and donations for extremist groups without exposing their identities. Cryptocurrencies also offer a no-strings-attached payment option.

Criminals can take advantage of this for one-time drug purchases because transactions are so quick and irrevocable.

All of these things can take place in the blink of an eye. As a result, government authorities would have a limited amount of time and information to arrest criminals and terrorists, which might put the country and its citizens at grave risk. Cryptocurrencies are being banned in many nations, particularly those that are prone to terrorist activity.

Safeguard the national currency

Although bitcoins, as well as Ethereum, could offer people a helpful hedge against a falling national currency, they limit central banks’ capacity to utilize monetary policy to address the fundamental problem, as well as their control over investment, consumption, and inflation in their jurisdictions.

Raising a cryptocurrency to the level of a national currency might have negative consequences for macroeconomic stability, financial transparency, consumer rights, and the environment. Therefore, countries are opting to ban cryptocurrency mining within their territories.

Money laundering and cybercrime syndicates

Ransomware incidents, whereby cybercriminals enter and lockdown computer systems before demanding payment, frequently in cryptocurrency, to recover them, have become more common in recent years. According to the authorities’ most recent annual evaluation, the capacity to bypass a country’s established financial facilities is a blessing in disguise for perpetrators since it allows them to hide their participation in such activities. Money launderers are also “increasingly incorporating virtual currency” into their actions. Several so-called darknet markets, which are websites where anonymous users can use cryptocurrencies to commit cybercrime and child pornography, have been shut down by US and European authorities.

As a result, authorities have banned cryptocurrency mining since Bitcoin’s network is completely anonymous, meaning individuals are only recognized by their network addresses. It’s impossible to track down the origins of a payment or the identity of the person or company behind the address. Aside from that, Bitcoin’s network’s computational trust eliminates the requirement for trusted contacts on both ends of an illicit transaction.

Cryptocurrency is highly volatile

Bitcoin has typically been an extremely volatile asset. Cryptocurrency is, without a doubt, among the most unstable non-derivative investment assets available. While having the most trade liquidity of any cryptocurrency, it is nevertheless several times more expensive than national currencies.

While market volatility allows traders to increase their worth, it also has drawbacks that must be considered. Among these is that it precludes the use of cryptography in real situations. Because of their extreme price volatility, cryptos, for instance, are unable to fulfill the role of a currency. If you’re an entrepreneur and choose to offer your products in Bitcoin, you might make a lot of money or lose a lot of money in a short amount of time.

As a result, many nations are banning cryptocurrencies from curbing this volatility that would lead to investors losing their money, causing a loss of revenue.

Circumvent capital control

Capital restrictions are commonly used by governments to prevent cash withdrawals that would debase the currency’s worth. Many view this as another tool for the state to exercise influence on economic and budgetary policy. Bitcoin’s borderless character comes in handy in these situations for avoiding capital regulations and shipping wealth.

One of the most well-known cases of Bitcoin-based wealth flight happened in Asia. The country’s inhabitants are only allowed to spend foreign money up to $50,000 per year. According to a report published by Chainalysis, a crypto forensic investigation firm, over $50 billion moved from Asian cryptocurrency to wallets in other nations in 2020, implying that citizens changed the national currency to Bitcoin and moved it across territorial boundaries to avoid government intervention.

High energy consumption

Since there is no central body for digital currencies, this responsibility is delegated to specific users known as miners, who utilize their gear to help keep crypto under control. These miners may be rewarded with free cash if their efforts are successful. Mining bitcoin with all these machines churning away consumes a lot of energy, which is bad for the environment.

If Bitcoin had been a nation, it would be among the top 30 nations on the planet in terms of energy consumption. As per the Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, that’s nearly adequate energy to run nations having populations in the millions and an environmental cost of 34 megatons of carbon footprint or more.

Some Bitcoin supporters say that the energy consumed comes from green sources. Environmentalists, on the other hand, vehemently disagree with the assertion, claiming that miners typically employ less expensive energy sources such as coal.