BTC Mining Pool Centralization Risk
Centralization concerns in Bitcoin mining are growing as the largest mining pools increase their share of hashrate distribution.
Too little corroboration in the last 3 days to call a trend (8 articles). Watching for it to gain traction.
Still mostly niche and specialist coverage — not yet picked up broadly by mainstream press.
"Public Bitcoin miners are trimming capacity faster than the network itself, according to a BlocksBridge Consulting analysis. Bitcoin network average hashrate declined 10.6% over the same six months, suggesting miners' reductions outpaced the broader network."
"That shift has reduced mining to a secondary business as long-term data-center leases become the company's principal revenue source."
"TeraWulf's Bitcoin-mining revenue fell 73% year over year in the second quarter as high-performance computing and artificial intelligence leases reached 71% of sales, accelerating the company's shift away from its original business."
"a Hashrate Index reading put Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool at 60% of recent blocks. The top three were already above 60%"
"SBI Crypto pulled the plug on its Bitcoin pool in Japan on July 31, its seven-day average hashrate had fallen 64% in a month"
"CFO Jim Nygaard said the company was operating mining primarily to offset contractual power costs during the wind-down. He said Core Scientific ended June with nearly 30% fewer miners online than at the end of the first quarter and was self-mining at only two sites."
"Poolin Technology Pte. Ltd., the Singapore-based company that once ran one of Bitcoin's largest mining pools, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 22. At its peak, the company controlled nearly a fifth of the network's global hashrate."
"The balance of power in hashrate distribution continues to tilt toward the industry’s largest players. The combined share of the three biggest mining pools—Foundry USA, AntPool, and F2Pool—stood at about 59% over recent seven-day data."