Bitcoin miners have successfully survived the 2020 Halving and COVID-19, and the network is now seeing some of its highest hash rates ever as these operations power up new equipment and reach new levels of decentralization going into the second decade of bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin Mining Is Decentralizing
China still dominates the bitcoin mining space, although the percentage of the hash rate coming from the country has dropped recentl[1]y, from around 65 percent in early 2020 to about 50 percent more recently as Chinese mining farms are weathering a particularly difficult monsoon season and the government is sending mixed signals[2] that Bitcoin may be under attack as part of a campaign to promote the new digital yuan.
Meanwhile, the U.S., Russia, Iceland, Central Asia and South America, among other regions, are all seeing continued growth in mining as miners benefit from plentiful, cheap, stranded energy in these regions — principally hydroelectric power, wind power or oil and gas, depending on the location.
In addition, Kazakhstan has been in the news lately[3] as its government partnered with miners through a $715 million investment fund.
The following graph from a report[4] prepared by BitOoda[5] for Fidelity Digital shows an estimated breakdown of hash power around the world, indicating that China contributes 50 percent of the world’s hash power, while the U.S. is in second place with 14 percent.
It should be noted though that other analyses[6] have placed China’s share as high as 65 percent of the total hash rate, with the U.S. at 7.2 percent and Russia at 6.9 percent.
Chinese Operations Are Looking Westward
The U.S. and Canada make up 21 percent of the global hash rate, at least in BitOoda’s analysis,
