Chinese Authority Charges Mining Firm Bitmain With Tax Violations

Amid heightened global regulatory scrutiny on crypto-focused firms, Chinese authorities have charged crypto mining firm Bitmain with tax law violations. The Beijing-based crypto mining company received penalties for allegedly violating Chinese tax regulations from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of the State Administration of Taxation.

An April 11 report by Sina Finance stated that Bitmain would pay a fine of 25 million Chinese yuan (~$3.7 million). The report cited its source from China’s data registry of public and private companies Qichacha.

Bitmain To Pay $3.7 Million in Fine For Tax Law Violation

In detail, the tax authorities penalized Bitmain on April 4 for not paying personal income taxes under China’s tax collection and administration law. According to the report, Bitmain was supposed to pay individual income tax for employee allowances, bonuses, salaries, etc, but the mining firm failed to do so.

In August 2022, the Fourth Inspection Bureau of the Beijing Municipal Taxation office delivered a notice of deadline, which Bitmain defaulted. According to the data registry, Bitmain defaulted on the payment of 16.6 million yuan ($2.4 million), hence, the $3.7 million penalty.

Bitmain is among the world’s largest crypto-mining firms, recognized as a renowned mining hardware and solution manufacturer. However, the September 2021 ban on crypto mining activities impacted the firm’s business, forcing it to stop the shipment of some mining equipment in October 2021.

How Bitmain managed to stay in business all this time remains a mystery. Even the 2022 crypto bear market, which caused depletion in mining profit, did not deter the mining firm from succeeding. In December 2022, Bitmain said it sold out its Antminer HS3 within seconds.

Bitcoin currently trades above the $30,000 level in the daily chart. | Source: BTCUSD price chart from TradingView.com

Bitcoin Mining Carbon Emission Controversy

Meanwhile, the battle over Bitcoin mining’s carbon footprint continues as mining proponents accused the New York Times (NYT) of inflating mining companies’ emissions. They also accused the media outlet of omitting the facts about the increasing renewable energy adoption for BTC mining.

In a recently published article, the NYT claimed Bitcoin mining has a voracious appetite and consumes as much energy as all residents in New York. In a tweet, Daniel Batten, a prominent Bitcoin environmental, social, and governance (ESG) analyst, responded to the statement as unfounded.

According to Batten, the article misrepresented and exaggerated Bitcoin’s actual fossil fuel use. In addition, the analyst lambasted the media outlet for overstating the emission levels by an average of 81.7%, adding the report lacks complete facts to support its thesis.

Batten also noted that about 26 Bitcoin miners in the US and Canada use 90% sustainable energy to run their mining activities. However, the New York Times article reported only two while focusing on sites that use less renewable energy.

Bitcoin proponent, Troy Cross, also responded to the report. Troy Cross said the NYT article used marginal emissions accounting to support its narrative to make BTC look bad. Cross noted that NYT selectively reported on carbon emissions, leaving out generation.