(Yicai Global) July 20 -- The effects of China’s recent clamp down on virtual currencies can be seen at the Huaqiangbei Electronics Trade Market in Shenzhen, the country’s biggest electronics market and an important trading hub for cryptocurrency mining machines and their parts, where prices are falling and customers are dwindling.

There were only a few visitors on the fifth and sixth floors of the market’s Seg Plaza, where mining machines, hard drives and graphic cards are sold, a sharp contrast to the crowded scenes of two months ago, a Yicai Global reporter noticed on a recent visit. The LED panels outside that used to light up with the words ‘Home of Cryptocurrency Circle’ now list ‘Server Accessories.’

In May the Financial Stability and Development Committee of the State Council called for a crackdown on crypto mining, saying that virtual currencies have no real value and their price can be easily manipulated. Since then, Bitcoin mines across the country have been shut down and e-trading channels blocked.

The situation has changed a lot, a mining equipment retailer surnamed Jin told Yicai Global. In April, customers were scrambling to enter the crypto mining industry and came rushing to buy hard drives, he added.

A 16T hard disk now costs only CNY2,000 (USD308), said a store owner surnamed Zhang. In May, the price was CNY5,000 and they were in short supply.

Miners used to push up the price of mass storage drives several times, Zhang said. Prices have fallen back to previous levels following the crackdown on the industry, she added. The price of graphic cards has dropped between 20 percent and 30 percent from their peak.

When the market was booming, a high-quality mining machine could sell for tens of thousands of US dollars, another shop owner surnamed Jiang told Yicai Global. It was not unusual for Jiang to have a turnover of over CNY100,000 (USD15,000) a day. But now his daily sales rarely exceed a couple thousand US dollars.

He hasn't thought about future and will wait and see what happens, Jiang said.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor