http://finance.caixin.com/2018-01-04/101193143.html
“独家|限期关闭比特币矿场消息不实 相关优惠政策正逐步清理”
2018年01月04日 10:42 来源于 财新网
＊央行1月3日并未召开内部会议，对比特币矿场也没有作出限期关停的要求；但自2017年11月下旬以来，政策面态度就趋以明确，不禁止，但也不鼓励。简单说，就是不再给挖矿以任何优惠措施，包括税收、电价、土地等＊
【财新网】（记者 吴雨俭 吴红毓然 张宇哲）近期，币圈流言不断，这次是关于矿场。
首先流传开来的是一张微信截图。图中显示，币圈知名人士郭宏才称，“我有确切消息，5号之后要查封一切矿场，将持有和交易虚拟货币定位扰乱金融秩序罪，大家好自为之。”
郭宏才本人在微信朋友圈针对这条消息做出了辟谣，表示图片是PS的，并非自己所言。但在这之后，又有某自媒体在微信公号上发布消息，文中指出“央行今日（1月3日）召开闭门会议，要求限期关停比特币矿场”。
前述传闻引发币圈震荡。据财新记者从权威渠道处确认，央行1月3日并没有召开所谓的内部会议，对比特币矿场也没有作出限期关停的要求。但他强调，目前确实有逐步取消电价、税收、土地等优惠政策的计划。
一位接近互金整治办人士也向财新记者表示，目前，监管层要求各地积极引导辖内企业有序退出挖矿业务，即协调辖内有关部门，多措并举，综合采取电价、土地、税收和环保等措施，并定期上报辖内“挖矿”企业基本情况及引导情况。
但前述权威人士同时也特别强调，这里所指的“引导退出”，并非是一项要求地方关停矿场的强制措施，而是意在通过规范、收缩各地优惠政策。
与虚拟货币交易所不同，生产比特币的比特币矿场，是通过专业的比特币矿机通过耗电产生算力来挖矿，其更多的是具有工业属性而非金融属性。对比特币矿场的压缩将如何执行？能否落实？多位接近监管人士对此表示：“目前主要是强调，政策面不能对挖矿奖励或过度激励。”
另据财新记者了解，对于目前几个重点省份的矿业情况，监管层已掌握了部分矿场的电费、税收、发电量等信息。且基于此，关于比特币挖矿的监管态度，早在2017年11月下旬就已明确。对此，外界虽平静如常，但消息不胫而走，矿业头部人士对此已心中有数。在此次消息传出之前，就已有部分币圈矿业资深人士向财新记者反应，目前内蒙古电力多边交易系统给予当地新增的云计算大数据公司的电费优惠已经停止，其实相当于变相收紧了对比特币矿场的电力优惠。
如果说比特币交易所助长了比特币的投机炒作之风，那么比特币挖矿的问题何在呢？事实上，目前关于比特币挖矿最大争议，落在一个根本问题上：比特币对实体经济到底能起什么作用？
据前述权威人士表示，一是挖矿的耗电量巨大，全国挖矿每年的用电量光是不完全统计，就可以供5000万户居民使用，存在资源浪费的问题；二是每挖一枚比特币要产生1.8吨的二氧化碳，不利于环境保护。此外，有些矿场还存在消防安全、噪音过大等问题。
但也有多位矿业人士向财新记者指出，挖矿的影响在各个地区需要做区分，不能一概而论，因我国的发电基本情况，是发电量远远大于耗电量，供过于求，这也就造成了尤其是丰水期存在着弃水电量的情况。比如在内蒙，多使用的是火力发电，可能会造成环境污染等问题，但若是在四川等使用水力发电的地区，并不会造成环境污染，反而可以给当地增加收入。
“其实地方政府在9月份之前是非常欢迎矿场的，尤其是一些工业园区，因为我们真真实实地交了那么多电费的，这些园区的进账也要招商引资。我们既不污染又不扰民，还不需要政府贷款。”一位矿业资深人士表示。
据币圈人士介绍，目前每挖一枚比特币的成本，若加上矿机的损耗，需要1.5万元人民币左右。按照目前比特币1.5万美元的均价折算，一枚比特币相当于10万元人民币。也就是说，每挖出一枚比特币就有8万多元的利润。
放眼全球各个地区，如按成本论，中国并不算比特币矿业最好的选择。要挖矿，最好具备两大条件：一是电价便宜，二是区域温度低利于矿机散热。从全球来看，最符合上述条件的国家，多处于纬度高或者海拔高、水电、火电资源丰富的地区，比如说俄罗斯、加拿大、冰岛等等。
而比特币矿业之所以在中国如此繁荣，主要原因是中国人在矿机生产方面达到了顶尖，目前矿业排名前三的矿机生产商均在中国，分别是比特大陆的蚂蚁矿机、嘉楠耘智的阿瓦隆和亿邦科技的翼比特，其中有的不仅生产矿机，也拥有自己的矿场。而目前国内外大大小小的矿场，非常大一部分都会选择使用这三家的矿机挖矿。在矿业政策紧缩的同时，转战海外也早已成为数位矿业人士正在默默筹备的一项准备工作。
“乌克兰、俄罗斯、加拿大、美国、马来西亚、瑞典，我们都去过，谈建厂。其实加拿大是首选，美国也算吧，电费比中国都便宜。”前述矿业资深人士表示。但国外也可能一样存在政策不稳定等风险，大多数的矿业人士仍不愿意离开中国这片熟悉的土地。“如果要求从税收、电费这些方面做规范的话，我们都愿意配合。现在最主要的诉求就是希望不要关停矿场。”另一位矿业资深人士表示。
http://finance.caixin.com/2018-01-04/101193143.html
"Exclusive News | Deadline to Close Bitcoin Mining News False, Preferential Policies Gradually Cleared"
January 04, 2018 From Caixin Finance News
(Cai Xin network) (Reporter Wu Yu Jian Yu Wu Yu Zhang Yuzhe) Recently, the currency rumors ring again, this is about mining.
First we have a WeChat screenshot. The image shows that Guo Hong Cai, a celebrity known in the currency ring, said: "I have the exact message that all mining will be seized after the 5th and the crime of holding and trading virtual currency will be disrupted by the financial order."
Guo Hong Cai himself in his WeChat circle of friends said this message was a rumor, saying the picture was photoshopped, and that's not something he said. But after that, there was another message from the media on WeChat's official website stating that "the central bank held a closed-door meeting today (January 3) to stop the Bitcoin mining with a deadline."
The aforementioned rumor triggered a shock. According to Cai Xin reporters and confirmed from the authoritative sources, the central bank on January 3 did not hold the so-called internal meetings, and did not make a deadline for shutting down bitcoin mining. However, he emphasized that at present there are indeed plans to phase out the preferential policies on electricity prices, taxes and land.
A person close to the mutual-aid remediation office also told a reporter that at present, regulators require all localities to actively guide enterprises under their jurisdiction to withdraw from the mining business in an orderly manner, that is, to coordinate the relevant departments under the jurisdiction of the government and take measures to take the electricity price, land, taxation and environmental protection measures, and regularly report to the jurisdiction of "mining" with the basic situation and to guide the situation.
However, the aforementioned authorities also stressed in particular that the "guide and exit" referred to here is not a compulsory measure that requires the local authorities to shut down mines. Instead, it is meant to regulate and reduce preferential policies around the country.
Unlike virtual currency exchanges, bitcoin mines that produce bitcoin are mined through power-hungry professional bitcoin mining machines, which are more industrial rather than financial in nature. How does bitcoin mining compression work? Can it be implemented? Many regulators said: "At present, the main emphasis is that the policy can not reward over-excavation."
According to reporters, regarding the current situation in several key provinces of mining, regulators now control some of the mining electricity, taxes, generating capacity and other information. And based on this, the regulatory attitude on bitcoin mining has been clear, as early as late November 2017. In response, the outside world has remained calm but the news has spread like wildfire. Before the news broke out, some senior mining industry veterans have already responded to the Cai Xin reporter. At present, the electricity tariff concession given to the local newly added cloud computing big data company by the Inner Mongolia Electric Power Multilateral Trading System has stopped, in fact, it is equivalent to tightening the power concessions for bitcoin mines.
If the bitcoin exchange is fueling Bitcoin speculation, what is the problem with bitcoin mining? In fact, the biggest controversy over Bitcoin mining at the moment falls on a fundamental issue: what exactly can bitcoin play in the real economy?
According to the aforementioned authoritative source, one is that the power consumption of mining is huge, and the annual electricity consumption of the country's mining is barely counted, which can be used by 50 million households and has the problem of waste of resources. Second, Bitcoin consumes 1.8 tons of carbon dioxide, which is detrimental to the environment. In addition, some mines still exist fire safety, excessive noise and other issues.
However, a number of miners also pointed out to Caixin Reporter that the impact of mining needs to be differentiated in various regions and can not be generalized. The basic situation of power generation in our country is that power generation is far greater than power consumption and oversupply, which results in, especially during the wet season, a case of wasted water. In Inner Mongolia, for example, more thermal power generation is used, which may cause environmental pollution problems. However, if it is used in areas, such as Sichuan, that use hydroelectric power generation, it will not cause environmental pollution and will instead generate additional revenue.
"In fact, the local government welcomed the mine well before September, especially in some industrial parks because we really pay so much for electricity bills and the proceeds from these parks should be capitalized in. We neither pollute nor disturb the people, there is no need for a government loan yet, "said a mining veteran.
According to currency circle introductions, right now each time you mine a bitcoin, it costs, if coupled with the cost of the mining machine, about 15,000 yuan. According to the current average price of 15,000 US dollars bitcoin conversion, one bitcoin is equivalent to 100,000 yuan. In other words, there is a profit of more than 80,000 yuan for each bitcoin.
Looking at all parts of the world, China is not the best bet for bitcoin mining at cost. For mining, it is best to have two conditions: first, the price of electricity is cheap, and second, low regional temperatures conducive to the heat of the mining machines. Globally, most of the countries that meet the above conditions are mostly in areas of high latitude or altitude, hydropower and thermal power resources, such as Russia, Canada, Iceland and so on.
The main reason why bitcoin mining is so prosperous in China is that the Chinese have reached the top level in the production of mining machines. At present, the top three miner producers in the mining industry are in China, namely the "bitter ants" mining machine in the mainland of China and "Jia Nan Yun Zhe's" Avalon and Ebang Technology's E-Bit, some of them not only the production of mining machines, also have their own mines. At present, with large and small mines at home and abroad, a very large part will choose to use these three mines while mining. While the mining policy is tightening, the move overseas has long been a preparation that many mining professionals are silently preparing for.
"Ukraine, Russia, Canada, the United States, Malaysia, Sweden, we have been to all those places to talk about the establishment of factories. In fact, Canada is the first choice, the United States also counts, the electricity bill there is both cheaper than in China," the aforementioned mining veteran said. However, foreign countries may share the same risks of instability in policies. Most mining professionals are still reluctant to leave this familiar land in China. "We are all willing to cooperate if we are required to regulate taxes and electricity charges, and the main demand now is to not shut down the mine," said another mining veteran.
<<<In order to translate faster, I use Google Translate and then edit the translation myself. As a result, this is not up to par with the quality of a professional translation, even by my own standards, but it's good enough to get the gist of a news article with what I call "speed translation" and will have to do for blog posts : ) >>>
