Canada could become the world's bitcoin mining capital as China cracks down

A chain of block erupters used for Bitcoin mining is pictured at the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, California October 28, 2013. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

Bitcoin transactions are enabled by so-called bitcoin miners, who are rewarded for digitally checking transaction records with newly minted bitcoins.
China is home to the world's biggest bitcoin miners but is cracking down on the sector due to concerns about excessive energy usage.
At the same time, Canada is actively courting bitcoin miners as regions like Quebec have excess power capacity.
Other countries like Kazakhstan and Venezuela are also said to be courting miners.

LONDON — Canada is luring bitcoin mining companies to its shores as China, the current global hub of crypto mining, looks to crackdown on the sector's energy usage.

Several industry sources Business Insider spoke to this week said that bitcoin miners are thinking of moving to Canada after lobbying from the country's energy industry. Quebec specifically has been wooing bitcoin miners in the hopes of boosting local economies.

Reuters reported on Friday that Bitmain, the world's biggest blockchain mining company, is looking at moving operations to Canada and said utility company Hydro Quebec is in talks with around 30 large cryptocurrency miners about potential moves. BTC.Top, another major miner, is also setting up shop in Canada.

"We’ve seen a lot of movement towards Canada," Chris Keshian, the CEO of San Francisco-based Apex Token Fund, a fund of crypto hedge funds, told Business Insider. "The Canadian government is relatively friendly towards cryptocurrencies [and] energy is relatively cheap there."