Ex-CCP Official Apologizes for Supporting Crypto Miners: Xiao Is Facing Jail for Accepting Bribe

• A former CCP member on a local channel apologized for his involvement. 
• Xiao Yi had pleaded guilty to accepting over $1.8 million bribe. 
• China stands second in BTC mining with 21%, following the US with 38%.

China has banned crypto mining since 2021, citing many reasons. But the shadow doesn’t seem to evade as Former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) member Xiao Yi spoke up from what appeared to be a prison, apologizing for supporting a Fuzhou crypto mining firm. 

Former CCP secretary of Fuzhou, Xiao Yi, confessed to “acting recklessly” in supporting crypto mining during a broadcast of a state-run television channel. 

The interview was released on January 8, 2023, where Xiao spoke from a place resembling a prison in a sad voice apologizing for being a “sinner” and causing “grave losses” to Fuzhou. 

Xiao had pleaded guilty to the charges of corruption laid on him in December 2022 for accepting more than $18 million in bribes to allow construction programs and wrongly promoting some projects, including a local crypto mining firm. 

As per the reports from local news agencies, Xiao had instructed Jiumu Group Genesis Technology, a local crypto mining firm, to portray themselves as a provider of tech services that were not prohibited in the region. The firm went on to operate nearly 160,000 miners from 2017 to 2020.

Although China officially banned crypto mining operations from continuing in the country in 2021, they have been watching over certain select firms since 2018. Xiao served as a CCP secretary in Fuzhou during the time but continued his support towards Jiumu Group Genesis Technology. The investigation by officials on him in May 2021, and he was expelled from the party and his position later on. 

As per the research from the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School, China once stood second next to the United States in terms of Bitcoin mining. In December 2021, the US mined 38% of the world’s while China managed to mine 21% of the world’s Bitcoins. 

Although things and this data didn’t go well with the authorities, they banned crypto transactions in September 2021 and prohibited any new project from being launched in the country. The reason was that 60% of their electricity demand is covered by thermal power plants, meaning coal and fossil fuel are responsible for causing pollution. 

Post the ban, many miners left the country, migrating to the United States cities like Nebraska and Kerney. Some miners had moved to the bordering nation of Kazakhstan.  

The country was once responsible for 65% to 75% of the total hash rate. 

As expected, some underground mining operations have emerged, where these miners are trying to work around Beijing’s ban. 

With its technical prowess, China proved to be a nation favorable for crypto mining. But as BTC mining is a pretty energy-intensive project, the nation, despite being capable of becoming world learned in cryptocurrency, decided to lose the position of the leader to protect the environment. 

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