Whereas the Bitcoin market remained comparatively steady within the latter a part of Q3 as discussions about spot ETFs subsided, the hash charge exhibited constant progress all through the quarter. It not too long ago reached a contemporary milestone, surging from 250 EH/s at the beginning of 2023 to greater than 400 EH/s this month.
Bitcoin mining issue can be displaying no indicators of stopping because it set a brand new all-time excessive of 57.11 T. Whereas hash worth circumstances stay difficult, the brand new Coin Metrics report means that “savvy” Bitcoin miners proceed so as to add operational hash charge. In reality, the mining panorama in 2024 is about to get extra sophisticated.
Complexity of the Mining Panorama in 2024
As the following halving occasion approaches inside a yr, miners in the US are ramping up their manufacturing efforts. They’re concurrently managing their mining fleets in anticipation of the upcoming discount in block rewards within the spring.
This development in the direction of higher effectivity throughout the community is clear within the information, significantly when inspecting the typical network-wide effectivity, which continues to enhance, in line with Coin Metrics’ newest version of ‘State of the Community.’
In reality, American miners are more and more deploying trendy equipment, contributing to the continued enhancement of total community effectivity.
The stakes for the mining trade will probably be elevated even additional within the upcoming yr with the anticipated launch of the state-of-the-art Antimer S21. Its producer, Bitmain, has not too long ago introduced that the S21 is slated to start transport within the first and second quarters of 2024.
The introduction of this considerably extra highly effective mining machine will add a brand new layer of complexity to the mining panorama in 2024, the report said.
Centralization Dangers
At the same time as such a development paints a bullish image for the Bitcoin community, this “maturation” of the mining trade has implications elsewhere, although.
The crypto intelligence companies reported that the focus of hash charge within the arms of some huge mining swimming pools stays a serious concern for the group.
In line with its information, Foundry and Antpool have collectively managed north of fifty% of Bitcoin’s hash charge since January 2023. Such dominance poses an “ever-greater centralization threat.”
Though Foundry’s dominance has barely diminished from its peak of 34% in February to 29%, Antpool is steadily advancing, rising its share by 5% throughout the identical interval, now reaching 23%.
In the meantime, F2Pool, the third-largest mining pool with a 13% share, has additionally prompted a contemporary wave of scrutiny by way of the position of mining swimming pools and their impression on transaction settlement. In brief, the shortage of transparency concerning insurance policies and procedures is fueling a rising sense of mistrust in the direction of mining swimming pools.
