A security official told that China has arrested 1100 people for using the gains from crime to purchase crypto as a part of an increasing crackdown in the industry.

Bitcoin mines of China power about 80% of the worldwide trade in crypto, although dealing is banned in the country.

Officials have begun to keep a vigilant eye on crypto miners to stamp out money laundering and prevent speculation.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Public Security informed that Chinese police raided a network of more than a thousand people involved in money laundering by purchasing crypto.

Without outlining the amount of money involved, the ministry said that money launderers charged clients commission to transform illegal proceeds into digital currencies through crypto exchanges.

The northern area of Inner Mongolia shut down all its crypto mines in April claiming they didn’t succeed to meet yearly energy consumption targets.

The area accounted for 8% of the computing power required to run the global blockchain – a set of online ledgers to record bitcoin transactions.

That is more than the computing power amount dedicated to blockchain in the entire US.

In 2019, China banned crypto trading and is increasingly strengthening restrictions on bitcoin mining.

On Wednesday, the northwestern region of Qinghai also announced a ban on crypto mining. But no info is available about the size of operation in the province.

China is in the middle of a wide-ranging regulatory crackdown on its fintech sector. The biggest players of the sector have been hit with large penalties after found guilty of monopolistic practices.

In May, Bitcoin value dropped on the back of caution by Beijing to investors against speculative crypto trading.