65% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate has been concentrated in China

A new bitcoin mining map from the University of Cambridge shows that China accounts for 65% of the world’s hash power. About half of the country’s hash rate is produced in just one place, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, which accounts for 35.76% of the global total.

Recently launched, the university’s Bitcoin Mining Map provides data on the average hash power generated by each country each month. Current statistics cover the period from September 2019 to April 2020.

The map is based on the geolocation data or the IP addresses of the hashes connecting to the mining pools of Bitcoin (BTC) BTC.com, Poolin and Via BTC. Pools account for approximately 37% of Bitcoin’s total hash power.

The hash rate is a measure of the power of computers connected to the Bitcoin network, which determines their ability to produce new coins.

According to the map, prepared by the University of Cambridge’s Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF), China’s hash power dwarfs that of the United States ninefold, with America accounting for just 7.24% of the global total of hash power, a distant second place.

With 6.9%, Russia is third, followed by Kazakhstan with 6.17%, Malaysia with 4.33% and Iran with 3.82%. The rest of the world accounts for 6% of the hash rate.

Often burdened with huge electricity bills, crypto miners have flocked to China, lured by the promise of cheap renewable electricity. According to the map, the second largest concentration of hash power in China is found in Sichuan province, with 9.66%.

Inner Mongolia, Yunnan and the capital Beijing are also key mining areas, accounting for 8.07%, 5.42% and 1.73% of the national hashrate total, respectively.

The CCAF admits that the sample that produced the hash energy distribution map “may not be fully representative” because “it only represents just over a third of the total hashrate; and second, the data is provided by three Bitcoin mining pools which are all based in China. “

To correct China’s apparent bias, CCAF hopes to add data from major mining regions such as Siberia in Russia, Washington and the states of New York in the US, Québec and Alberta in Canada in future reports.

What do you think of China’s dominance in hash power? Let us know in the comments section below.

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