According to latest data, Bitcoin mining is dominated by five groups that control 80% of the total power. Foundry USA and Antpool, two of these groups, combined represent over half of the hashrate, at 31.72% and 19.54% respectively.
Foundry USA's 30% level participation has been consistently observed since early 2023. One of the catalysts for such a high participation for this group was that after the introduction of restrictive measures in China on cryptocurrency mining in mid-2021, Foundry USA reached the number 1 position (17%) in November 2021, and continued to increase its specific participation.
Foundry USA's current stock value corresponds to approximately 94 Eh/s with a total bitcoin hashrate of 300 Eh/s. The second largest participant, Antpool, represents 65.91 Eh/s respectively. Antpool originally originated in China, and Beijing's policy to regulate cryptocurrency mining has influenced its declining participation.
Concentration in the mining pool market is growing: at the beginning of 2022, the top 5 players represented 60% of the bitcoin hashrate, but a year later, participation increased by 20%, or a third. At the same time, the situation may change in the future, given that there was a lot of investment activity in mining capacities from various companies in 2022.
The bitcoin hash rate continues to update historical highs. On January 29th, there was another change in this indicator, which occurred this time at block #774144: +4.68%, from 37.59 trillion to a new all-time record of 39.35 trillion. The next change of this indicator is expected for February 11th, 2023.
SOURCE: Bitcoinhoy