Bitmain, the cryptocurrency infrastructure company behind the Antminer brand, volition temporarily halt the sale of mining machines to aid secondary sellers offload their supplies following Cathay's wholesale ban on Bitcoin (BTC) mining.

The suspension of new Antminer sales will begin immediately, Bitmain appear Thursday via WeChat. Past suspending the sale of new mining devices, companies must resort to buying secondhand miners that previously belonged to Chinese mining rigs.

The "2d-hand marketplace is nether swell pressure," Bitmain said, co-ordinate to a Google translation of the declaration. "In social club to assistance the industry transition smoothly, [Antminer] decided to temporarily suspend the global spot sales."

Bitcoin miners have been in brusk supply for much of 2021, even as Bitmain raced to increase production during the cryptocurrency bull market. The supply-demand imbalance was felt across the industry as California chipmaker Nvidia limited the hash rate capacity of its new GeForce RTX 360 GPU, which was originally intended for gamers.

China's crackdown on cryptocurrencies intensified this month as lawmakers extended their Bitcoin mining ban to the province of Sichuan. Past Sunday, over 90% of China's Bitcoin mining capacity was expected to exist close down, according to Global Times, a publication backed by the ruling Communist Political party.

Related: Nvidia GPU prices in Red china fall amid crypto mining crackdown

China, which used to control roughly ii-thirds of the total Bitcoin mining hashing power, has been tightening the grip on the cryptocurrency manufacture since at to the lowest degree 2017 when the government imposed bans on trading. Although Chinese nationals take found various ways to circumnavigate the trading ban, miners have no such recourse due to the pregnant energy consumption associated with mining.

According to diverse reports, Prc's mining crackdown is driving miners to more favorable jurisdictions, such as Texas. Every bit Nikkei Asia reported Thursday, Shenzhen-based Bit Mining is planning a $26 million investment in the U.Due south. state, where it would join Bitmain in scaling up its Texas operations.