Ethiopia is now a home for Chinese Bitcoin mining companies

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Currently, 21 Bitcoin mining companies in Ethiopia are Chinese and it is expected that this country is going to become a very big rival of Texas in terms of electricity production.

Ethiopia is officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. This country is located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. As of 2023, it is home to around 128 million inhabitants, making it the 13th-most populous country in the world. 

As per available local reports, Ethiopia saw an inflow of huge numbers of Bitcoin mining companies. At present, there are 21 Bitcoin mining companies in this country and all of them have struck power supply deals with state power supply body.

Notably, only 2 out of 21 Bitcoin mining companies are not Chinese. In short 90.4% of crypto mining companies in Ethiopia are Chinese. 

Some media reports noted this influx of a high number of Chinese Bitcoin mining companies in this country and called it a home for Chinese miners. 

According to Bitmain, the capacity of electricity generation by the African countries for Bitcoin mining operations is going to create a very big competition against Texas’s electricity capacity in the next few years. 

Interestingly Ethereum’s biggest rival Cardano (ADA) crypto project is also engaged in African countries to push the adoption of Cardano blockchain technology at the commercial level. 

In Q1 2023, John O’Connor, Director of African Operation at Cardano development firm Input Output Global (IOHK), confirmed that they completed the first pilot and were beginning to train users at the Ministry of Education on functionality and usage. 

IOHK started to work on the Cardano-powered decentralised identities and digital credentials in Ethiopia in 2021. 

China crypto ban & exodus for miners

In the middle of 2021, China announced a blanket ban against all crypto-related activities across all the states of mainland China. 

Before the end of 2021, the majority of the companies either shifted to Kazakhstan or US’s Texas. 

In particular, the Kazakhstan government officially suggested Chinese crypto mining companies establish their business in the country but later Kazakhstan failed to deliver a constant electricity supply and this was the big reason why the mining companies’ owners started to shift from Kazakhstan to other jurisdictions.

Read also: Bankrupt crypto firm FTX plans to sell its custody service at a 95% discounted price