April 8, China’s state economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released a draft version of the 2019 Directory Catalogue on Readjustment of Industrial, in which crypto mining has been included in a list of sectors it plans to eliminate.

According to the announcement, NDRC proposed to “eliminate” crypto mining industry as it lacked safe production, seriously wasted resources and polluted the environment. Many believe that this initiative is a signal that the country is going to ban mining after cracking down cryptocurrency trading and initial coin offerings due to the high correlation among them.

China is the world’s largest market for Bitcoin mining equipment and the birthplace of major crypto mining manufacturers such as Bitmain and Canaan. The move inhibits Bitcoin’s bullish trend. Majority of crypto enthusiast and miners concerned about whether it could be detrimental to mining giants and lead to a further impact the whole crypto industry if the proposal enacted. It may reduce the supply of Bitcoin and boost the price in the short term，but the regulatory intervention would inhibit the growth of the industry.

According to Security Times, both spokesmen from Bitmain and Canaan stated that the draft list has a rare impact on their operation for the time being, but it still remains unknown if they will arrange their business strategy later on.

Nevertheless, the guiding list does not exert regulatory power yet, the agency claimed that members of the general public may provide their comments on the draft until May 7. It is still uncertain of a crypto mining ban would actually take effect: some items remain on the elimination list by the end of 2006 are still in the 2019 version though.

Currently, Bitmain released its Antminer 17 series machines which sold out in minutes, that reflects the great demand from the mining industry.