Canaan’s CEO urges China to make way for green mining.

The CEO of Nasdaq-listed Canaan Inc, Zhang Nangeng, a China-based firm that specializes in Bitcoin mining equipment, has urged that China’s Bitcoin mining ban should make allowances for green-energy users during a conference call. Canaan CEO said that an indiscriminate ban on Bitcoin mining failed to consider the potential economic benefits that could arise from embracing green-energy mining. Earlier, Chinese authorities announced a crackdown on crypto mining. 

Green mining is possible in some regions. 

Canaan CEO Zhang stated that mining could present a solution to the oversupply of electricity in certain regions of the country, where resultant low energy prices already attract miners. “For-profit crypto miners prefer regions with low electricity prices that indicate oversupply and likely energy waste. Cryptocurrency miners also help create jobs in impoverished regions and contribute to fiscal coffers,” said Zhang. Canaan’s stock price spiked 24% on Tuesday, adding to 42% growth for the week. The surge in Canaan’s share price came amid the release of the firm’s financial results for the first quarter of the year, which showed spectacular growth since this time in 2020.

Canaan recorded a net income of $22.4 million. 

Canaan’s revenue grew 490% year on year, primarily from its ASIC crypto mining equipment sale. The company also recorded a net income of $22.4 million after recording a net loss of $5.9 million the year before. “Our financial performance improved significantly in the quarter, driven by the Bitcoin price rally, higher customer demand for quality mining machines, and our ability to ramp up mining machine production and deliveries,” Canaan’s quarterly report noted. Last month China had announced a crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in order to curb carbon emissions. The ban on crypto mining resulted in several crypto mining firms to halt their operations in China.