China-based Ethereum mining pool Sparkpool shuts down all services

Hangzhou-based Sparkpool, which was launched in 2016, is discontinuing both its domestic and international Ethereum mining pool services.

The firm, currently the second largest Ethereum mining pool, said in an announcement on Monday that in response to regulatory changes, it has already suspended the services for new China-based mining customers following its statement last Friday.

In addition, Sparkpool said it will now suspend the mining pool services for all of its existing China-based — as well as international — customers by the end of this month. 

The real-time Ethereum hash rate connected to Sparkpool has already dropped by more than eight percent over the past 24 hours as result of China's intensified crackdown over crypto mining and trading activities.

That Sparkpool is not just suspending services for home-based customers is a sign of the harsher crackdown measures taken by China, which appear to the most severe since 2017.

Crypto exchange Huobi, one of the major trading venues catering to China-based customers, also said over the weekend that it will retire all existing China-based user accounts by the end of this year.