Bitcoin Hashrate Distribution: Pool Share and Geography

Current Mining Pool Hashrate Distribution

Bitcoin's hashrate measures the total computational power securing the network. As of Q3 2026, the network operates at roughly 940 EH/s, down about 12% from its all-time high of approximately 1,066 EH/s reached in December 2025. The 7-day moving average first crossed the 1 ZH/s (1,000 EH/s) threshold on September 2, 2025, a milestone confirmed by Glassnode data.

Hashrate is not uniformly distributed. A handful of mining pools aggregate the majority of the network's computational power, with the top three pools consistently controlling over 50% of all blocks mined. The following table shows estimated pool shares based on 2026 data from Hashrate Index and mempool.space.

Note: Pool shares fluctuate significantly between daily, weekly, and monthly measurement windows. A 3-5 percentage point variance is normal depending on the snapshot period. Data sources include Hashrate Index, mempool.space, and BTC.com.

For a deeper comparison of pool features, fees, and payout structures, see our Bitcoin mining pool comparison.

Network Hashrate Historical Milestones

Bitcoin's total network hashrate has grown exponentially since its inception, driven by advances in ASIC mining hardware and increasing economic incentives from price appreciation. The difficulty adjustment mechanism recalibrates every 2,016 blocks (roughly two weeks) to maintain the target 10-minute block interval regardless of hashrate changes.

The post-April 2024 halving reduced the block subsidy to 3.125 BTC, yielding roughly 450 BTC mined per day across approximately 144 blocks. Despite this reduction in per-block revenue, hashrate continued climbing through 2025, driven by cheaper next-generation hardware and rising bitcoin prices. The subsequent decline from the December 2025 peak reflects compressed hashprice (approximately $32/PH/day in mid-2026) and infrastructure disruptions including severe weather events in the US.

Geographic Distribution of Bitcoin Mining

After China banned cryptocurrency mining in mid-2021, the global distribution of hashrate underwent a dramatic restructuring. The United States absorbed the largest share of displaced miners, while Russia, Kazakhstan, and several emerging markets also gained significant capacity. As of Q3 2026, Hashrate Index estimates the following geographic breakdown.

China's continued presence despite the 2021 ban reflects underground mining operations concentrated in Xinjiang and Sichuan provinces. CryptoQuant estimates 15-20% of global capacity still operates in China, and ASIC manufacturer Canaan reported 30% of its 2024 revenue came from Chinese buyers, up from under 3% in 2022.

The fastest-growing mining jurisdictions are those with abundant cheap energy: Ethiopia leverages hydropower from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Paraguay uses surplus electricity from the Itaipu hydroelectric facility, and several Middle Eastern nations utilize stranded natural gas. Kazakhstan, once a top-5 mining country, has dropped out of the top 10 due to regulatory crackdowns and grid instability.

Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) data from April 2025, surveying 49 mining companies representing 48% of global hashrate, found the energy mix at 52.4% zero-emission sources (42.6% renewables, 9.8% nuclear), 38.2% natural gas, and 8.9% coal. The CCAF notes this sample skews toward compliant Western operations; the unsampled portion likely uses a higher proportion of fossil fuels.

Centralization Metrics and Network Security

Mining pool concentration directly impacts Bitcoin's security model. The 51% attack threshold represents the point at which a single entity could theoretically reorganize the blockchain, double-spend transactions, or censor specific payments. While pools are not monolithic entities (they aggregate hashrate from thousands of independent miners), their operators control block template construction by default, giving them the power to decide which transactions get included in blocks.

Several metrics quantify mining centralization:

• Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI): approximately 1,492 as of H1 2026, sitting at the boundary between "unconcentrated" (below 1,500) and "moderately concentrated" (1,500-2,500) by US DOJ standards
• Nakamoto Coefficient: 3, meaning only three pools need to collude to exceed 50% of total hashrate
• Top-2 concentration (Foundry USA + AntPool): approximately 46% of all blocks mined, fluctuating between 41-57% depending on the measurement window
• Top-4 concentration: approximately 70-73% of all blocks
• Top-6 concentration: over 80% of all blocks

Analysis from b10c.me shows that Bitcoin mining has been trending toward greater concentration since 2023. The most decentralized period was May 2017, when the top two pools controlled less than 30% and the top six controlled less than 65%. The only historical instance of a pool crossing 51% occurred in 2014, when GHash.io briefly exceeded that threshold. Community backlash caused its share to drop below 50% within weeks, and no attack was carried out.

For an in-depth analysis of what these concentration levels mean for network security, see our research on Bitcoin mining centralization and pool risks.

Stratum V2 and the Decentralization Push

The most significant development addressing mining centralization is Stratum V2, a protocol upgrade that allows individual miners to construct their own block templates rather than deferring to pool operators. Under the current Stratum V1 protocol, pool operators decide which transactions go into blocks, creating a censorship vector even if the underlying hashrate is distributed across many independent miners.

In May 2026, seven pools representing approximately 75% of global hashrate joined the Stratum V2 Working Group: Foundry, AntPool, F2Pool, SpiderPool, Block Inc., MARA Foundation, and DMND. As of mid-2026, only Braiins Pool and DEMAND Pool (DMND, launched November 2025 as the first V2-native pool) run Stratum V2 in production. Bitcoin Core v30 (October 2025) added experimental SV2 support.

OCEAN Pool takes a different approach with its DATUM protocol, which goes further than SV2 by requiring miners to run their own full node for block template construction. OCEAN is the only fully non-custodial mining pool in production. Tether announced in 2025 that it would deploy hashrate on OCEAN using DATUM, lending institutional weight to the decentralized template approach.

Recent Developments

Several shifts have reshaped the pool landscape in 2025-2026:

• SpiderPool has rapidly climbed into the top 5, consistently holding 9-11% of network hashrate with an FPPS payout model targeting institutional miners
• SBI Crypto shut down its mining pool on July 30, 2026, redirecting approximately 20,412 PH/s (~2% of global hashrate) to Braiins, Luxor, and Neopool
• Post-halving economics have compressed hashprice to roughly $32/PH/day, squeezing out less efficient operators and contributing to the 12% decline from the December 2025 hashrate peak
• Mining difficulty reached approximately 124.9 trillion in H1 2026, reflecting the sustained high level of network participation despite reduced block rewards
• Ethiopia and Paraguay are the fastest-growing mining jurisdictions, leveraging hydroelectric surplus to attract large-scale facilities

Implications for Network Security

The distinction between pools and miners is critical when assessing centralization risk. A pool controlling 30% of hashrate does not mean a single entity owns 30% of the mining hardware. Pool operators aggregate work from thousands of independent miners who can redirect their hashrate to another pool within minutes. This dynamic acts as an implicit check: if a pool behaves maliciously, miners leave.

That said, block template construction remains centralized under Stratum V1. Pool operators currently select which transactions to include in candidate blocks, creating a potential vector for transaction censorship. This is the core problem that Stratum V2 and OCEAN's DATUM protocol aim to solve. Until V2 adoption reaches critical mass, the top three pool operators effectively control over 50% of Bitcoin's transaction selection.

Geographic concentration compounds the risk. If a single jurisdiction controlling a large share of hashrate enacts hostile regulation (as China did in 2021), the network experiences a sharp temporary decline in security. The 2021 China ban caused a roughly 50% hashrate drop that took months to recover from. With the US now hosting approximately 37% of global hashrate, a similar regulatory action there would have significant, if temporary, consequences.

Bitcoin's proof-of-work security model fundamentally depends on hashrate decentralization across both pools and geographies. Monitoring these distributions is essential for anyone building on or holding value in the network. For builders on Bitcoin layer 2 protocols like Spark, base layer security directly determines the safety of off-chain state anchored to the main chain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the current Bitcoin hashrate?

As of Q3 2026, the Bitcoin network operates at approximately 940 EH/s (exahashes per second). The all-time high of roughly 1,066 EH/s was reached in December 2025, and the 7-day moving average first crossed 1 ZH/s (zettahash) on September 2, 2025. Hashrate fluctuates daily based on miner economics, hardware deployments, and external factors like energy prices and weather.

Which mining pool has the most hashrate?

Foundry USA has been the largest Bitcoin mining pool since 2023, consistently holding 25-30% of global hashrate. Foundry is operated by Digital Currency Group (DCG) and primarily serves North American institutional miners. AntPool (operated by Bitmain) holds the second position at approximately 18%. Together, these two pools mine roughly 46% of all Bitcoin blocks.

Can a mining pool attack Bitcoin with 51% hashrate?

A pool controlling over 50% of hashrate could theoretically execute a 51% attack, enabling double-spends or transaction censorship. In practice, the risk is mitigated by the fact that pools aggregate hashrate from independent miners who can switch pools within minutes. The only historical instance of a pool crossing 51% was GHash.io in 2014: no attack occurred, and community pressure rapidly reduced its share. The economic incentive to attack is also limited: the attacker's own mining hardware would lose value as confidence in Bitcoin collapses.

Where is most Bitcoin mining done?

The United States leads with approximately 37% of global hashrate, followed by Russia (~17%) and China (~12%, despite the 2021 ban). Emerging mining jurisdictions include Paraguay, the UAE, Oman, Ethiopia, and Indonesia. The geographic mix has diversified significantly since China's ban, when China controlled an estimated 65-75% of all hashrate. Geographic data should be treated as estimates since no authoritative source can track all mining locations precisely.

What is the Nakamoto Coefficient for Bitcoin mining?

The Nakamoto Coefficient measures how many entities must collude to compromise a decentralized system. For Bitcoin mining pools, the current Nakamoto Coefficient is 3: only three pools (Foundry USA, AntPool, and one of F2Pool or ViaBTC) need to coordinate to exceed 50% of total hashrate. This represents a decline from earlier periods when hashrate was more evenly distributed across a larger number of pools.

What is the HHI index for Bitcoin mining?

The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) measures market concentration by summing the squares of each participant's market share percentage. Bitcoin mining's HHI sits at approximately 1,492 as of H1 2026, right at the boundary between "unconcentrated" (below 1,500) and "moderately concentrated" (1,500-2,500) by US Department of Justice standards. For comparison, a perfectly decentralized network with 100 equal-sized pools would have an HHI of 100, while a single pool controlling everything would score 10,000.

How does Stratum V2 affect mining decentralization?

Stratum V2 allows individual miners to construct their own block templates rather than accepting templates from pool operators. This eliminates the transaction censorship vector inherent in Stratum V1, where pool operators decide which transactions to include. As of mid-2026, pools representing 75% of global hashrate have joined the Stratum V2 Working Group, though only Braiins Pool and DEMAND Pool run V2 in production. Bitcoin Core v30 added experimental SV2 support in October 2025.

Is Bitcoin mining becoming more centralized?

By pool share metrics, yes. Analysis from b10c.me shows mining has trended toward greater concentration since 2023, with the top two pools now controlling approximately 46% of hashrate compared to less than 30% in 2017. However, geographic distribution has improved since China's 2021 ban dispersed hashrate across more countries. The Stratum V2 movement also aims to decouple block template construction from pool operator control, which would improve decentralization at the transaction selection layer even if pool-level concentration remains high.

This tool is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Hashrate data is approximate and based on publicly available information from Hashrate Index, mempool.space, CCAF, and other sources. Pool shares fluctuate daily and geographic estimates involve significant uncertainty. Always verify current data before making decisions.