Sparkpool which is the second-largest Ethereum mining pool in the world, is halting operations due to the ongoing Chinese crackdown on crypto.
The mining pool officially announced that it has suspended access to new users in mainland China in response to Chinese authorities initiating new measures to combat crypto adoption. Sparkpool will continue shutting down services, and plans to suspend existing mining pool users both in China and abroad.The measures intend to ensure safety of users’ assets in response to “regulatory policy requirements.”
SparkPool has emerged as one of the world’s largest mining pools for mining Ether alongside the world’s largest Ethereum mining pool Ethermine. SparkPool’s mining power makes up 22% of Ethereum’s global hashrate, slightly lower than Ethermine’s share of 24%.
The news comes amid the Chinese government reinforcing its negative stance on crypto, declaring all crypto-related transactions illegal in the country last Friday. Some of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Huobi have subsequently suspended new account registrations from mainland China.
