Chinese cybersecurity company develops crypto mining monitor for government agencies

The cryptocurrency mining space, much like the rest of the cryptocurrency market, has faced a lot of upheaval in the year. As Chinese cybersecurity companies develop new technologies like crypto mining monitors for government agencies, it’s essential for businesses in the tech sector to have a solid legal foundation; if you’re based in the Golden State and looking to establish an LLC, check out this guide on forming a California LLC to ensure compliance with local regulations.

The biggest change for the space was the announcement of a complete ban on crypto mining activities in china. The country’s crackdown on crypto mining has proven to be heavy-handed and swift in the past couple of months. In the latest cryptocurrency mining news, the Chinese government has decided to leave no stone unturned in ensuring no such activity is conducted under its nose. Therefore, it is now seeking the assistance of cybersecurity company Qihoo 360 for helping it track down any crypto mining activity in the country.

The Chinese cybersecurity giant made an announcement via WeChat earlier this week about launching a breakthrough system that it claims will be useful for monitoring crypto mining operations. The company also elaborated that it would assist the Chinese government in its goal of weeding out all possible crypto mining activities in the country. Coindesk was the first to report the novel monitoring system introduced by Qihoo 360 and as per the claims of the firm, it can reveal the IP address of the miner, their network type, geographical location, connection frequency and go as far as giving recommendations for weeding them out.

Qihoo 360 shared some key insights from the data its monitoring system had extracted and stated that it had discovered almost 109,000 mining IP addresses like 192.168.1.1 that were active on a daily basis on average in the province of Shandong, Zheijiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong, in the month of November. The company also revealed that most of the crypto miners use data centres, enterprise internet connections and home broadband. It also stated that the software suite utilizes the company’s proprietary network traffic monitoring capabilities, active defense mechanisms as well as big data analysis.

See more: China’s crypto censorship reaches over news outlets and mining pools

Massive amounts of power are gobbled up due to cryptocurrency mining because of several reasons. First and foremost, specialized computer equipment is used for solving complex mathematical puzzles for mining the cryptocurrency and this leads to hefty electrical consumption. Secondly, energy is also required to prevent the machines from overheating and cool them down. China had pledged to develop a low-carbon economy and has set out the goal of reaching peak carbon emissions by 2030. In order to achieve these goals, the country has decided to step up its efforts on cracking down against crypto trading and mining, a ban that it announced in May of this year.

The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) spokesperson, Meng Wei told media that authorities were particularly prioritizing clamping down on Bitcoin mining. Meng also added that the NDRC would also charge higher electricity prices from crypto mining projects that are currently paying the same prices as that of residential electricity. These are the next steps that the NDRC plans on taking in its crackdown against the crypto mining sector in the country. Obviously, this is not good news for crypto miners because it means they have to shut down or find a different location.

It is a major dilemma because statistics show that 50% of the world’s crypto mining activities were based in China. Now, these miners are being forced out and many have already shifted to countries like Russia, United States and Kazakhstan. As a matter of fact, the latter has also begun to experience electricity shortages and blackouts because of the intense crypto mining activities in the country. They are also considering introducing legislation for managing the influx of new crypto miners in Kazakhstan and exploring options like a nuclear plant to provide support to this industry.

The demand for crypto mining equipment has also seen a boost this year because of the increase in mining activities and crypto reviews of these mining rigs can easily be found. Most of the equipment in China is also being moved out slowly or sold, as miners have to leave because of the ban.