According to a recent report from Reuters, China is the most prominent player in the field of Bitcoin mining. The country now controls 66% of the network’s hashrate and it’s at its highest point in the past two years as per the popular monitoring resource CoinShares.
Speaking on the matter was Chris Bendkisen, the head of research at CoinShares, who outlined that the surge is largely due to a greater deployment of more advanced mining gear.
He also added:
“This is beneficial to the Chinese mining industry. […] If you are the first to increase your proportion of the hashrate, and you can do that before your competitors, that’s generally good.”
Distribution Of Bitcoin’s Hashrate
The news might come somewhat naturally, given that the largest Bitcoin mining operations, including Bitmain, MicroBT, and Canaan, are the leading companies in the field.
Another interesting thing to note is that Bitmain-operated mining pools control about 22.6% of the entire network’s hashrate.
However, positivity stems from the fact that there is no single actor with control anywhere near 50%, which showcases the maturity of the network, as well as its decentralized nature, in general.
In November, China’s president, Xi Jinping, urged the country to put more effort into the implementation and integration of blockchain-based technology. However, the overall regulatory climate remains uncertain, as earlier reports revealed that the country considers Bitcoin mining to be wasteful and that it would work towards prohibiting it, building more to the “Blockchain Not Bitcoin” narrative.
