China’s Zhejiang Province Hikes Electric Rates for Crypto Miners

The Chinese province of Zhejiang’s branch of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has said it will introduce punitive electricity prices for crypto miners, CoinDesk reported Wednesday (Feb. 23).

This comes after the Hainan province and Inner Mongolia have also done so. Authorities are also working to ban the crypto mining industry entirely, after rules did so last year.

The NDRC Zhejiang branch published a notice along with the local agency of the national grid operator, saying that crypto miners would have to pay another RMB 0.5, or $0.79, per kilowatt hour.

The notice also said government entities and grid operators should strengthen their monitoring for crypto mining activity.

The Zhejiang officials said that crypto mining is prohibited, responding to some confusion among internet users that had speculated that the higher costs had meant mining was allowed now.

Hainan, a southern island, introduced a charge for miners in December. The crackdown on mining began in September, with crypto mining included in a list of industries to be eliminated in October of 2021. Authorities have still been working to eliminate it entirely, though.

The electricity premium is a “supporting punishment to the ban,” and as the crypto punishment continues, authorities in the Shandong province have said citizens should report on suspected mining activity through hotlines, per the report.

Cryptocurrency laws have been evolving around the world. In a stark opposite, Colorado plans to start taking cryptocurrency for tax and other payments by the end of the summer, according to Gov. Jared Polis.

See also: Colorado Plans to Accept Crypto for Tax Payments by End of Summer

“For consumer convenience, we want to accept payment in a wide variety of cryptocurrencies, just as we do in credit cards,” Polis said last week.

Colorado, he said, is currently looking for companies that will take care of the crypto transactions — the state does not want to take “speculative risks” of holding digital assets.