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US grabs a whooping share of bitcoin hash rate
 As China expels miners, US, Russia and Kazakhstan do welcome them 10.Jan.22 9:26 AM By Shawn Highstraw Photo BTC |
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Over the past year, there has been a huge shift in pecking order in terms of the so-called hash rate, or computing power, of the Bitcoin (BTC) network. Where previously China was the home of a vast majority of Bitcoin miners, this was suddenly ended when the Chinese government announced that they were banning the mining of cryptocurrencies. Almost all miners in China were then forced to move to other countries. Russia, the United States and Kazakhstan in particular were attractive locations for these miners. In 2019, an estimated 65% of all computing power was located in China. At the time, only 4.9% of this hash rate was in the United States. Due to the ban on mining in China, the computing power that comes from this country has practically fallen to zero, according to data from the Cambridge Bitcoin Kazakhstan in particular saw a massive increase in the number of miners who settled in the country. In August of the previous year, the hash rate in Kazakhstan was at least 18% of the total. At present, however, the country is tormented by great internal unrest. The Government of Kazakhstan even completely shut down the internet a few days ago to nip the protests in the bud. This greatly affected the miners in the country and the hash rate of the Bitcoin network in Kazakhstan. For that reason, the US share of the hash rate suddenly became even larger. It recently reached a new high of at least 35%. At the moment, the United States still seems to be a safe haven for mining bitcoin. Whether this will continue in the future remains to be seen. Yesterday it was announced that US lawmakers are looking for answers about the net energy consumption of the Bitcoin network. If these answers are not well liked by the US government, it is not excluded that they will also take measures against the ever-growing number of miners in the country. | |
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