OCC’s Brian Brooks Says China Owns Bitcoin But Crypto World Disagrees: Chinese Crackdown Pushes Miners Away

Bitcoiners on social media squashed the remarks by acting in US currency controller Brian Brooks that bitcoin is owned by China due to the disproportionate share of the cryptocurrency’s mining power. Bitcoiners argue that the disproportionate number of miners stationed in China only means that the rewards of the corresponding block will reflect this imbalance. They add that no country owns bitcoins.

Internet Control 2.0

According to Brooks, who was chosen as the Substantial Director of the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC), bitcoin miners in China own over 50% of the mining capacity. In the comments made during a video interview, pro-crypto Brooks suggests the US is losing the Internet 2.0 leadership race to the Asian country. In a short video shared by a Twitter user on November 17, the currency checker asks:

As a country, we now face a geostrategic competitiveness problem, which is: in the US do we want to own Internet 2.0 the same way we owned Internet 1.0?

However, just like many others, Twitter user “Clashicly” rejects Brooks’ claim. He says “the only risk is CCP firewalls (which) cause an uncontested fork and a reorg of a minor fork that the forces have confirmed. [transactions] back to mempool. “

The user adds that “this has the greatest risk for exchanges if the CCP pools are many times those outside the firewall and the exchanges allow deposits after 6 confirmations, which could be thrown back into the mempool and spent twice.”

Other users think Brooks is attempting to draw the U.S. government’s attention to the importance of controlling bitcoin’s hashrate.

However, others like the Twitter user rabbit, seem to support Brooks’ comment by reminding other users that “currently> 65% of hash power is in China.” The user adds:

Presumably, BTC was created to be decentralized, but mining rewards create an economy of scale where the first miner will increase his market share in a monopoly (> 51%)

Impact of a Chinese crackdown on trade

Interestingly, reports from China suggest the country is blocking cryptocurrency exchanges and mining-related activities. According to a report, as a result of this crackdown, “Chinese miners are facing a serious problem in paying their electricity bills.”

The report adds that “74% of the miners surveyed said that the payment of their electricity bills was heavily affected.” Many believe this crackdown will accelerate the migration of miners from China to countries like Kazakhstan and the United States, thereby undermining Brooks’ claims.

Do you agree with Brian Brooks’ remarks that China owns bitcoin? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

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