Bitcoin's Rising Hashrate Sparks Concerns Over Mining Centralization — #BitcoinHashRateSurge

Bitcoin ( $BTC ) has started 2025 with a dramatic surge in hash rate, reaching new all-time highs. On January 1, the network hit between 808–809 exahashes per second (EH/s), climbing to between 813–823 EH/s by January 3, following a 1.16% increase in mining difficulty on December 29, 2024. Despite the rising difficulty, miners remain resilient, with 65 mining groups contributing over 79.46 kilohash per second (KH/s).

Leading the charge are major mining pools such as Foundry USA, which controls over 37% of the global hash rate, followed by Antpool with 16.7% and Viabtc with 13.7%. Together, these three pools account for a staggering 67.4% of the network’s computational power, raising concerns over the centralization of Bitcoin mining.

The dominance of a few large mining pools challenges Bitcoin’s decentralization, a core principle of its design. While miners are crucial for securing Bitcoin’s blockchain, the growing concentration of hash power could threaten the network's resilience and long-term security. As Bitcoin celebrates its 16th anniversary, the industry is actively exploring ways to promote decentralization in mining to ensure the integrity and sustainability of the network in the future.