On March 25, 2026, the Ergong Township Police Station under the High-Tech Zone (Xinshi District) Branch of the Urumqi Public Security Bureau uncovered an illegal electronic mining rig repair site during a patrol in its jurisdiction. Officers counted and lawfully seized 310 mining rigs awaiting repair at the scene.

That day, police officer Zhang Longsheng noticed something unusual while patrolling the Yuhang Road Small and Micro Enterprise Park in Xinshi District.

On-site inspections found large numbers of disassembled mining rigs and units awaiting repair, raising suspicions of violations of China’s rules that fully ban the production, sale, repair, leasing and hosting of mining rigs.

The inspection also found multiple safety hazards at the site, including unauthorized and disorderly electrical wiring, fire extinguishers that had not undergone required annual inspections, no established fire safety management system, and no designated person responsible for fire safety.

Officers from the economic crime investigation brigade and Ergong Township police station counted all 310 mining rigs awaiting repair at the site, photographed them for evidence, secured the evidence, seized all the equipment in accordance with the law, and ordered the parties involved to immediately stop the illegal activity.

The case has been handed over to the relevant authorities for further investigation and handling. The action is part of Xinjiang’s broader crackdown on crypto mining.

On February 9, 2026, the Financial Office of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Party Committee held a video training session on identifying and rectifying illegal financial activities involving virtual currencies, setting out a systematic plan for the regionwide crackdown.

The meeting was chaired by Yang Fuyu, deputy director of the Autonomous Region Party Committee Financial Office and deputy director of the Local Financial Administration.

The meeting conveyed instructions from the autonomous region’s top leadership, as well as the Notice on Further Preventing and Disposing of Risks Related to Virtual Currencies jointly issued by the People’s Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission and other agencies. It also gave a systematic reading of the inspection and rectification plan, clarifying the direction of the work and the division of responsibilities.

Urumqi, Changji, Karamay and Hotan reported at the meeting on the risk leads they have identified involving illegal financial activities tied to virtual currencies, as well as progress in handling them.

The Cyberspace Administration of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Party Committee, the regional Higher People’s Court, the regional Public Security Department, the Xinjiang branch of the People’s Bank of China, the Xinjiang Financial Regulatory Bureau and other agencies provided specific guidance on lead screening, evidence preservation, case investigation, joint enforcement and technical monitoring. They also stressed that any virtual currency-related business activity conducted within China constitutes illegal financial activity. Yang Fuyu said at the meeting:

First, further strengthen political awareness and heighten risk-prevention awareness.

Second, we must take the initiative and have the courage to confront tough problems head-on.

Third, authorities should step up administrative enforcement against illegal fundraising; fourth, they should strengthen coordination between administrative and criminal enforcement and crack down on related illegal and criminal activity in accordance with the law.

Judging by the specific measures laid out in the campaign, this round of inspections has expanded both in scope and in the granularity of enforcement compared with previous efforts.

On the scope of the review, regulators have ordered all localities and departments across the region to conduct full-coverage inspections. The targets are not limited to industrial parks, but also include sites operating under the names of “supercomputing centers” or “cloud computing,” as well as facilities such as captive power plants.

On power supply, authorities made clear that any form of illegal electricity resale is strictly prohibited.

A leading polysilicon company had previously been fined more than 100 million yuan for illegally supplying power to a mining farm, a sign that regulators are stepping up scrutiny of where mining farms source their electricity.

On reporting mechanisms, authorities have published a hotline and email address and set up a reward-based reporting system to encourage the public to provide leads.

In terms of industrial classification, official documents explicitly list virtual currency crypto mining as an industry slated for elimination. It no longer qualifies for any preferential electricity pricing, leaving no room for legal operations in Xinjiang.

As of publication, the case involving the 310 mining rigs seized in this enforcement action remains under further investigation and processing.