A Chinese cloud mining service is to close its mining contract marketplace on January 10th. The bitcoin mining pool, first launched by ViaBTC in November of 2016, currently allows users to buy mining contracts via a cloud-based service. These contracts entitle them to a given amount of hashing power, and the digital coin pay-out that goes with it.

In a statement released on January 8th, ViaBTC said that it was shutting down the marketplace in order to protect its investors\' interests and control speculation. The company also closed its cryptocurrency exchange some months previously, after authorities in 2016 began to crack down on China\'s exchange ecosystem. In September 2017, China banned companies from raising money with ICOs, and launched an investigation into 60 digital exchange platforms. Chinese authorities have been reported as seeking to shut down the bitcoin mining industry in their country, starting with regulatory measures on land and power usage. 

A document tweeted on January 5th, attributed to a Chinese regulatory body, apparently calls for officials to prepare plans to initiate such a process by January 10th. Following concerns about energy consumption in China related to its vast bitcoin mining industry, Bloomberg reported on the same day that Chinese cryptocurrency miners may be planning to relocate, and already have substantial operations elsewhere in the world.