Bitcoin Mining Centralization Raises Concerns in Crypto Community

Worries are growing in the cryptocurrency world about the centralization of Bitcoin mining, which could undermine the foundational decentralized ethos of the cryptocurrency.

Recent figures from BTC.com show that two dominant mining pools, Foundry USA and AntPool, now control about 57% of Bitcoin’s total network computing power. These mining pools allow individual miners to pool their resources to increase their chances of earning Bitcoin, with earnings distributed according to each miner’s contribution after fees are taken out.

The dominance of Foundry and AntPool has raised concerns. Foundry, managed by Digital Currency Group, aligns with US interests, while AntPool is operated by China’s Bitmain Technologies, reflecting Chinese influence.

The fact that these two pools hold such a large share of the network’s hashrate could lead to geopolitical tensions and impact the overall security and fairness of the Bitcoin network.

READ MORE:

Ethereum Could Surpass Bitcoin in Market Cap Within Five Years, Says Expert

The centralization of mining power is a significant issue. Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr has warned that if a single mining pool gains control of more than half of the network’s computing power, it could perform a 51% attack, threatening the network’s integrity. Although no pool has reached this level of control, the existing concentration has already resulted in some cases of transaction censorship.

In a related incident, F2Pool was criticized in 2023 for censoring transactions to adhere to US economic sanctions but later reversed its policy following community criticism.

Alexander Stefanov