Bitcoin hashrate predominantly owned by unidentified entity, claims BitMEX
BitMEX analysts have warned that Bitcoin mining is becoming increasingly centralized, posing potential risks to the network. According to a report, one organization holds the coins mined by nine major pools, giving it control over around 47% of the network’s hashrate. The report cites a publication by a user named mononaut on X, who claims that this unnamed custodian has accumulated bitcoins from various pools such as AntPool, F2Pool, Binance Pool, Braiins, BTC.com, SECPOOL, and Poolin. Additionally, the custodian controls the entry addresses of ULTIMUSPOOL and 1THash and receives mining rewards from Luxor. Many participants in these pools contribute hashrate for the AntPool transaction accelerator, which has been utilized by the custodian. The high degree of centralization in Bitcoin mining was also highlighted by crypto analyst Alex Bergeron in an article for Bitcoin Magazine. Bergeron emphasized that mining pools are attempting to adjust the payout scheme and eliminate income deviations from the equation. BitMEX researchers have calculated that a mining pool controlling 50% of the hashrate should have a minimum fund of at least 400 Bitcoins (BTC) to have a 95% chance of surviving for a year. For a pool with 5% capacity, a reserve of 500 BTC is required to ensure risk-free existence. Despite the recent halving of the block reward, which has led to a decrease in income for miners, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju has not observed any signs of capitulation among Bitcoin miners. Income levels for cryptocurrency miners have reportedly fallen to early 2023 levels.
