Fast Take
Previously 24 hours, the 2 largest Bitcoin mining swimming pools, Foundry USA and Antpool, have demonstrated important dominance, every holding roughly 30% of the mining pool market and collectively mining slightly below 60% of the blocks previously 24 hours. Each swimming pools mined 41 blocks every throughout this era. The third-largest pool, ViaBTC, accounted for about 11% of the blocks.
A yr in the past, Foundry USA held a 29% share, and Antpool had 25%. Three years in the past, Foundry USA had a 24% share, and Antpool had 20%. This enhance highlights the rising dominance of those two mining swimming pools. At the moment, Foundry USA boasts a hashrate of 181 EH/s, whereas Antpool has round 140 EH/s, elevating considerations about mining centralization.
Bob Burnett, Founder and CEO of Barefoot Mining, identified these considerations, noting an occasion the place Antpool mined 5 out of six consecutive blocks between blocks 850448 and 850453. Many publicly traded Bitcoin miners, equivalent to Cipher Mining, Bitfarms, and Hut 8, use Foundry USA.
Antpool, based mostly in Beijing and owned by Bitmain, the biggest ASIC producer, signifies a big hash fee focus in China and the USA. This centralization might pose future challenges, particularly as weaker miners depart the community and stronger miners consolidate their positions, with publicly traded miners considerably growing their hashrate.
It’s value noting that throughout the China mining ban in the summertime of 2021, Antpool’s hash fee dominance elevated from 10% to 18% regardless of an general lower of their absolute hash fee.
It’s not essentially a priority if a mining pool holds a 51% share, as the danger of a 51% assault primarily arises if a single miner controls nearly all of the hash fee. In such circumstances, it’s the centralization throughout the pool, slightly than the pool itself, that poses the risk.
