Although the Chinese government has not expressed the intent to crack down on cryptocurrency miners, uncertainty about future government interventions in the aftermath of the ban on ICOs is causing many Chinese miners to craft contingency plans. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Chinese miner Akira Cui revealed that he and other miners are already preparing for a possible move: “Many of us have already paid visit to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Russia and the US, negotiating electricity prices with local authorities and buying sites for future use”. In fact, Cui sees the migration as more of a fact than a possibility: “The business blueprint is bound to go overseas, even if there’s only a 1 per cent possibility that China’s crackdown against bitcoin would extend to mining”, he told SCMP.

A stable supply of electrical power is crucial for sustaining a financially viable cryptocurrency mining operation. In the last week, an announcement supposedly made by the Sichuan Electric Power Company was circulating through the cryptocurrency community. In the announcement, later revealed to be an internal memo, the company was instructing hydropower plants to stop supplying electricity to bitcoin miners. Since then, the company has released a statement claiming that the memo was misinterpreted and that they do not have the power to decide whether bitcoin mining is illegal or not. Only time will tell if the situation was a misunderstanding or if China's cryptocurrency crackdown is expanding to mining operations as well. One thing, however, is for certain - the miners are looking for better opportunities abroad.