China could have seized all mining equipment just by deciding to nationalize the industry instead of banning it, boom, 51%+ of the hashrate in the hands of the Chinese government. What were Bitcoin maximalists saying at the time? Fuck dick, as long as the price goes up, who cares about the tech behind it?
Except they Chinese hashrate went back up even though mining is still illegal... Which begs the question... Did the miners really move out of China or did they simply hide the fact that they're in China?