Crypto Miner move to North America could start a new trend

During Donald Trump's presidency, there was an obvious trend in the decline in student and work visas from Asian countries, especially China. Now it seems that the US can expect an influx of Chinese workers, but that has nothing to do with a new US administration. This influx is driven by the nature of the economy. Due to the recent crackdown by the Chinese authorities against mining and trading in cryptocurrencies, the now 100,000-strong crypto-mining "workforce" is at a professional crossroads. Last month, China imposed new rules on cryptocurrencies, with the People's Bank of China saying that financial services companies and payment services companies are banned from setting prices or doing business with virtual currencies as there is no protection for consumers if they experience losses from crypto transactions suffer. "Recently, the prices of cryptocurrencies have skyrocketed and fallen, and speculative trading in cryptocurrencies has increased again, seriously violating the security of people's property and disrupting normal economic and financial order," it said in the regulator's declaration. Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Liu He also said that stricter crypto regulation is needed to protect the financial system. In order to curb money laundering, trading in cryptocurrencies in China has been illegal since 2019. The Chinese authorities issued similar bans in 2013 and 2017. Given the fact that at least 65% of the world's miners working on the Bitcoin blockchain were based in China, experts are already talking about the "great miner exodus". Some Chinese provinces have already delivered "evacuation notices" to the miners, blaming them for electricity bottlenecks.  Local media reports that Chinese crypto miners have already started packing their bags, with some selling their equipment or simply transporting their machines to neighboring countries. Some of them are expected to move to the US, with CNBC reporting that Texas could be the obvious choice. Texas often has some of the lowest energy prices in the world, and its share of renewable energy is growing over time. In addition, the state authorities are crypto-friendly. Also, China's BIT Mining announced last month plans to invest $ 25 million in a cryptocurrency mining data center in Texas. And now it might be easier for China's bitcoin miners to settle in the US, under an administration that is a little friendlier. The Trump administration has been repeatedly accused of making it increasingly difficult for foreign students and skilled workers to obtain visas. US-based tech companies warned that tightening immigration policies could cause the US to lose the "war for tech supremacy." In early 2020, the government imposed a travel ban on students entering the US from China, but there was a decline in visa approvals even before the pandemic In 2017, there was a 17 percent decrease in international students in the U.S., with a 28 percent decrease in Indian students and a 24 percent decrease in Chinese students getting visas. In 2018, immigration authorities rejected almost one in four applications for a new visa for foreign skilled workers. At that point, it was the highest rejection rate for new H-1B visa applications in nearly 10 years. In the six months to September 2020, the Trump administration granted only 808 visas to students from China - a decrease of 99% compared to the same period in 2019. The US granted 88% fewer student visas to applicants from India.  We saw a similar situation with the work visas. The Trump administration has either suspended or made difficult several temporary work visas for professionals, managers and au pairs. However, since taking office, President Biden has made several decisions to reverse this. In February, Biden lifted Trump's entry ban on certain immigrants. Then, in late April, President Biden lifted travel restrictions that banned Chinese students from entering the United States. A new wave of crypto-mining immigrants could be among the first to take advantage of this.