Bitcoin’s network has suffered one of its sharpest single-day shocks this year after a sudden collapse in computing power, fuelling claims that large mining hubs in China’s Xinjiang region have been forced offline in a regulatory policy shift.
Bitcoin Hashrate Slumps as Xinjiang Mining Centres Appear to Go Dark
15 December 2025 - 11:56 CET
By Matt Neill
Data from Blockchain.com shows that the total Bitcoin hashrate fell by roughly 100 exahashes per second over a 24-hour period on Dec 14. That equates to a roughly 10% drop in global computing power, far beyond normal day-to-day volatility.
Industry figures estimate the decline is consistent with around 400,000 mining rigs being switched off almost simultaneously.
Xinjiang shutdowns resurface
The focus has quickly turned to Xinjiang, long one of China’s most important but politically sensitive mining regions. Jack Kong, founder of Nano Labs and former co-chair of ASIC maker Canaan, said on X.com the scale of the hashrate fall points to a coordinated shutdown of multiple large mining farms.
Xinjiang has historically attracted miners due to cheap coal-based power and surplus energy capacity, but operators there face persistent regulatory risk.
Even after China’s 2021 national ban on crypto mining, enforcement has ebbed and flowed, allowing underground operations to quietly rebuild. The latest hashrate data suggests that tolerance may have abruptly reversed again.
What the numbers imply
Mining pools linked to Chinese operators have also reported week-on-week hashrate declines in the mid-teens, reinforcing the view that this was a regional event rather than a technical glitch or weather-related outage.
While the headline drop looks dramatic, Bitcoin’s core security remains intact. Block times may experience brief delays, but the network’s difficulty adjustment will recalibrate if a lower hashrate persists, restoring equilibrium.
More importantly, the episode highlights how geography still matters. Despite years of diversification, a significant portion of global mining capacity remains in regulatory grey zones, where sudden policy shifts can ripple through the entire network within hours.
Mining power shifts again
The Xinjiang shock comes just weeks after reports suggested China had quietly clawed back a double-digit share of global hashrate.
If the shutdowns hold, displaced capacity is likely to migrate once more toward North America, the Middle East and parts of Latin America, where miners face higher costs but operate with clearer legal frameworks.
At the same time, every abrupt hashrate swing is also a reminder that political risk, not just price or energy, still shapes the foundations of the world’s largest blockchain.
