BitcoinChina’s ban has not stopped miners from working in China, but they are not giving up.

China was once the world’s biggest crypto mining hub, accounting for between 65% to 75% of the total “hash rate” — or processing power — of the bitcoin network.

However, the nation’s part of global Bitcoin mining capacity is still very small plummeted to zeroAccording to data from Cambridge University, the authorities took a new crackdown against cryptocurrencies in August and July 2021.

China has taken many steps to achieve this goal. abolish crypto miningThe power-intensive, laborious process leading to new digital currencies. This led to many miners fleeing the country, especially Kazakhstan and the United States, which border China.

CNBC however has reported that this is not the case. previously reportedSince then, many underground mining companies have emerged in China. Miners are careful to avoid Beijing’s ban.

Now, new researchAccording to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Chinese bitcoin mining activity is on the rise. According to data by Cambridge researchers, China accounted for just 22% of total bitcoin mining markets as of September 2021.

It means China is once again a top global player in bitcoin mining — second only to the U.S., which eclipsed China as the largest destination for the sector last year.

There is one caveat: The research methodology relies on aggregate geolocation from huge bitcoin mining “pools” — which combine computing resources to more effectively mine new tokens — to determine where activity is concentrated in different countries.

Researchers said that this approach could be susceptible to “deliberate obstruction” by bitcoin miners who use a virtual private networks (VPNs) to hide their locations. VPNs allow users to send their traffic through another country. This is useful for those living in China or other countries where the internet use is restricted.

However, the limitation was added to “only moderately affect” the accuracy and reliability of the analysis.