As Ki Young Ju notes, Bitcoin mining is shifting to the United States, although Chinese miners still dominate. In a post on X, Ju, founder of CryptoQuant, a crypto analytics platform, you notice that more United States mining pools are gaining market share from their Chinese counterparts, based on controlling the Bitcoin hash rate.
Bitcoin Hashrate Shifts In US After China Ban
As of September 23rd, Chinese Bitcoin mining pools controlled 55% of all Bitcoin hash levels. At the same time, those operating within the United States control 40% of the total. This means that these two countries dominate all Bitcoin mining operations, controlling 95% of all hash rate–a major risk to the functionality and security of the blockchain.
Bitcoin is secured by distributed and decentralized miners who often submit their computing power (hash ratio) to a pool for a chance to win block rewards. These miners have to buy the equipment and cover all the operating costs.
Hat the extreme, as an incentive, the network distributes 3.125 BTC and the corresponding block cost approximately every 10 minutes to a successful mining pool or miner. In this way, the network remains secure and, in theory, evenly distributed.
As the trends show, the change in the hash rate regime coincides with the collapse of crypto mining activity in China in May 2021. Citing various concerns, the Chinese government banned all crypto mining and staking forms.
Specifically, they said that the rise of crypto made it difficult for them to stop financial crimes and shut down a major airline. At the same time, the Chinese government suspected that crypto and Bitcoin would disrupt the economy.
After this, most of the miners in China were forced to shut down and move to other regions. Most found themselves in the United States and Kazakhstan. While there are still pockets of mining activity in China, the pro-crypto stance and favorable regulations mean that crypto mining in the United States is booming.
Dear Policy, Donald Trump Confirms Support for Crypto Mining
Notably, Bitcoin mining in the United States has been supported. Some of the top public crypto mining companies that mine thousands of BTC every year include Marathon Digital and Riot Platform.
Meanwhile, many independent miners are connecting to mining pools based in the United States. In accordance with Mempool.spaceFoundry USA is a large mining pool, contributing over 30% of the hash rate.
In June, Republican President-elect Donald Trump, he met and crypto mining operators in Florida. In a private meeting, Trump reportedly said that his administration, if elected, would ensure that the sector is managed properly.
Featured image from Canva, chart from TradingView