Finding out how much bitcoin hashrate is in mainland China is still a mystery – mining bitcoin news
In the past few weeks there have been many reports of raids in China related to Bitcoin mining operations in various provinces. 30-day statistics show that the hashrate has fluctuated a lot, slipping down about 26% in the past week.
Reports show Bitcoin mining raids in five Chinese provinces
Despite the decline, the three largest mining pools in the world, which now account for about 41% of the hashrate, are considered Chinese mining pools. However, this does not necessarily mean that the mining pools are actually home to physical Bitcoin mining facilities in mainland China.
How much hash rate is in China is a matter of millions these days. Especially after Beijing’s crackdown on mining and the subsequent bans in several provinces.
The mandates first appeared in Inner Mongolia when reports surfaced in the first week of March 2021. Then, on June 9, 2021, a report revealed that certain Bitcoin miners in Xinjiang had been ordered to shut down.
Another mandate appeared for crypto miners in Qinghai Province. After the province of Qinghai, the authorities in Yunnan also took action against the Bitcoin mining operation in this region.
Then, while everyone waited to hear about Sichuan, the news finally came after the May 31st report informing the public about a meeting. Officials in Sichuan have notified bitcoin miners in the province to close until June 25.
Existing hashrate reference maps and errors found in assumptions
Hashrate charts show that the Bitcoin network’s hashrate has slipped over the past seven days and is currently hovering a hair above the 100 exahash per second (EH / s) zone. The problem is that nobody knows exactly how much hashrate there is in China and how many companies are forced to migrate.
Many mainstream reports referred to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance’s index card, also known as the CBECI. The unreliable CBECI map has not been updated since April 2020 and the map indicates that 65% of the hashrate is in China.
The CBECI data also has significant estimation limitations as it only collects data from three large pools and the “aggregated geospatial data based on Hasher’s IP addresses connecting to mining pools”. Cambridge further states that “hashers in certain locations use virtual private networks (VPNs) or proxy services to hide their IP address and thus their location”.
In addition, it is known at all times that a large number of stealth miners dedicate hashrate to the BTC network. These stealth miners, otherwise known as “unknown” in hash distribution pie charts, account for about 6% of the network hashrate this weekend. Sometimes mystery miners have collected more than 20% of the hashrate in the past few years.
The web portal digiconomist.net is similar in that it shows an unreliable chart with proportions of the Bitcoin network’s hashrate, but it has also not been updated since April 2020. In China, digiconomist.net’s survey shows operations in Beijing, Nei Mongol, Guangdong, Qinghai, Yunnan, Sichuan, Shanxi, Guizhou, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Zhejiang and Hebei.
There’s also a published study by Coinshares that highlights that 74% of Bitcoin mining operations worldwide were powered by renewable energy in 2019. The detailed report provides an overview of a number of mining locations around the world and includes a map.
The Coinshares map is fairly simple but gives the general idea that there is a large proportion of miners in China, and Sichuan in particular. Between the CBECI map, Digiconomist.net chart and Coinshares report, we still don’t have an up-to-date percentage of how many miners are in China.
However, there is a recent report released by Bitooda with the assistance of asset manager Fidelity Investments, dated July 15, 2020, that drops China’s hash rate to 50% from previous estimates.
In addition, errors were found in the assumptions on which the digiconomist.net data is based. In 2018, another study by Coinshares had shown criticism of the digiconomist’s BECI, finding that there was a large discrepancy in terms of overall energy usage data.
Hashrate distribution and alleged headquarters
Finally, the public has access to data from the hash rate distribution by pool name. The five most important mining pools today are Antpool, Viabtc, F2pool, Btc.com and Poolin. With regard to the hashrate percentage, below Poolin Binance Pool, an unknown entity, or Foundry USA is located.
Measuring data in this way is flawed as not all pools are hard operations as many pools are a mix of hash power from physical facilities and miners from around the world pooling computing power with the pool. There is no known location for Binance Pool and Poolin says its operations are based in Hong Kong.
Poolin’s website states that it has offices in Beijing, Chengdu, and Changsha, China. Bitmain’s Antpool says its headquarters are in China, and Viabtc and F2pool (formerly known as Discus Fish) records also show the headquarters in China.
Btc.com records indicate that the mining company’s headquarters are in Amsterdam. About 41% of the hashrate comes from Chinese pools, but we can’t be sure how much that hash power actually comes from mainland China.
As mentioned earlier, Chinese bitcoin mining pools are not necessarily located in China. The fact is, figuring out exactly how much bitcoin hashrate is in mainland China is still a mystery. Look out for the continuation of this comprehensive report, which covers the entire landscape of bitcoin hashrate distribution over the past 12 years.
What do you think of the geographic locations of the miners? In your opinion, how high is the hash rate in China? Let us know what you think on this matter in the comments below.
Photo credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Bitooda, Fidelity, Coinshares, CBECI, Btc.com, digiconomist.net, Coinwarz,
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