The United States has bypassed China as the world's main center in terms of computing power for bitcoin mining, the Financial Times draws attention with reference to information from the University of Cambridge.
In 2019, China accounted for three-quarters of the global bitcoin hashrate, but after new restrictions by the authorities in May this year, its share decreased from 44% to almost zero. The share of the USA, in turn, increased from 17% in April to 35% in August, and the share of Kazakhstan over the same period – from 10% to 18%.
The bans of the authorities in China led to a "great migration of miners," said Sam Tabar, director of strategy at the American mining firm Bit Digital.
"The result of the bans in China has been an increase in the geographical distribution of hashrate in the world," the University of Cambridge said. "This is a positive phenomenon for the security of the network and the principles of bitcoin decentralization."
In August, miners from the United States controlled 42.7 hashes per second (EH/s) in the total volume of bitcoin hashrate. Also, in addition to Kazakhstan, Russia and Canada were among the leaders with 11.2% and 9.6%, respectively.
According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance's own statement, its data covers 44% of the hashrate of the bitcoin network, and on this basis, an assessment of the overall distribution is carried out. At the same time, analysts admit the presence of inaccuracies due to the use of VPN by individual miners, who can thus distort information about their location.
"The ban in China was great news for the industry and American miners," said Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings. –At one point, the number of players hunting for a limited number of coins has sharply decreased."
At the same time, Thiel noted that competition is starting to increase again as Chinese miners move to other regions.
"We have returned to what it was before the ban, so I expect the situation to stabilize," he added.