A team affiliated with the University of Cambridge has released a new bitcoin data tool showing the countries with the highest concentration of mining activity. While China is still way out in front, its share of the hashrate has dropped roughly 10% since September. The data comes from APIs connected to three mining pools – BTC.com, Poolin, and ViaBTC – and took a year to develop. Blandin said it represented roughly 37% of total global hashrate and might skew too far against North America and Europe. They are hoping to plug in data from more mining pools and entities to create a more comprehensive picture. “This data may validate some market intuitions, drive greater transparency, and help participants in the conduct of their operations,” said Apolline Blandin, CCAF’s cryptocurrency and blockchain lead, to CoinDesk in an email.
- The research team is actively looking to partner with additional mining pools and hashers to improve the accuracy and reliability of the mining map.
- That may be because CCAF’s dataset began in September 2019, at the start of Sichuan’s dry season, when hydroelectric plants were running at lower capacities and aren’t producing as much power.
- Malaysia (4.33%) and Iran (3.82%) are ranked 5th and 6th, while all other countries’ contributions to Bitcoin mining are less than one percent.
- Each participating mining pool aggregates IP addresses on their end to create an average geographic distribution of total pool hashpower by country and region.
A Team Affiliated with Cambridge University Releases the “Bitcoin Mining Map”
According to a report on May 7, 2020, CCAF says that this Bitcoin mining tracking tool will assist users to get the location of different countries’ monthly shares of the global hash rate. Another notable thing about this Bitcoin mining data tool is that it gives users an opportunity to compare Chinese provinces by providing them with detailed data and information. While earlier versions of the mining map appeared overly biased towards China, there are reasons to believe that the sample nevertheless has provided a reasonable approximation of the actual hashrate distribution to date. For one, all participating pools maintain servers in various geographies across the globe to serve their foreign customer base with minimal latency. Furthermore, Chinese pools have dominated Bitcoin mining in recent years, among others because of their relatively low fee structure which has attracted numerous foreign hashers. Finally, the data is based on three mining pools that operate as independent businesses, which allows us to further cross-check for potential anomalies.
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Researchers noted that their map is based on geolocation data (i.e. IP addresses) of hashers connecting to Bitcoin mining pools BTC.com, Poolin and ViaBTC, who agreed to share aggregate-level data. The research team is actively looking to partner with additional mining pools and hashers to improve the accuracy and reliability of the mining map. new interactive bitcoin mining map launched The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index currently estimates that the network is powered by 20.89 GW of capacity. In that case, the North American public mining companies would account for about 35% of the network’s capacity. That is also aligned with TheMinerMag’s previous estimate that a list of public mining companies represent about 40% of the network’s monthly production market share.
New mining map by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance at the Cambridge Judge Business School provides increased transparency of the industry for investors, policymakers, researchers and the general public. New mining map by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance provides increased transparency of the industry for investors, policymakers, researchers and general public. Miners who shared their data represent 37% of BTC’s total hash rate over the period covering September of 2019 to April 2nd of this year. CCIF explains that by determining the IP addresses, researchers can map out where Bitcoin miners are located and how Bitcoin mining is distributed around the world. The CCAF Mining Map tracks the average monthly Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate by country using the IP addresses of miners who agreed to share their aggregate data.
This sample may not be fully representative as it (i) represents less than half of Bitcoin’s total hashrate, and (ii) is dominated by mining pools previously headquartered in China. According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), the Bitcoin Mining Map is actually based on the IP addresses or in other words geographical-info of hashers. These IP addresses are directly connected with three major bitcoin mining pools which are BTC.com, Poolin, and ViaBTC, and collectively, these three refers to an estimated 37% of the Bitcoin total hash rate. The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) which is affiliated with the University of Cambridge has introduced a new bitcoin data tool known as the “Bitcoin Mining Map” for tracking global bitcoin mining power.
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Upon receiving individual pool data, we apply a number of data validation techniques to ensure that reported data is complete and constitutes a reasonable approximation. This is done, among others, by contrasting reported data to publicly observed data from third-party services such as Coin Metrics or BTC.com. A new Bitcoin mining map from a team affiliated with the University of Cambridge aims to visualize hash power by country for the very first time. This trend illustrates how the North American Bitcoin mining power capacity growth may be disrupted due to Bitcoin’s shrinking hashprice and the rising competition from the AI realm. As AI demand continues to surge and power-intensive training models multiply, the next stage of the game is perhaps how to reevaluate mining infrastructure as a competitive asset in the broader data infrastructure economy.
- For one, all participating pools maintain servers in various geographies across the globe to serve their foreign customer base with minimal latency.
- Such behaviour may distort the sample and result in an overestimation (or underestimation) of hashrate in some provinces or countries.
- China’s mining crackdown forced its miners, previously responsible for an impressive 65% of Bitcoin hash rate, to relocate.
- This sample may not be fully representative as it (i) represents less than half of Bitcoin’s total hashrate, and (ii) is dominated by mining pools previously headquartered in China.
- If regional hashrate data is not available for a given pool, we extrapolate from the existing sample.
- Blandin said it represented roughly 37% of total global hashrate and might skew too far against North America and Europe.
Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index
The timing of the map comes just before the next Bitcoin “halving”, expected on 11 May, at which time block rewards are divided by two. Bitcoin Mining Map shows that China still has the largest Bitcoin mining hash rate in the world, more than the United States and Russia. Out of the total global hash rate, China has a huge share of 65% while on the other hand, the United States and Russia are very far behind from China with 7.24% and 6.90% shares respectively. Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Iran, Canada, and Germany have their monthly shares of 6.17%, 4.33%, 3.82%, 0.82%, and 0.56% respectively as the below-given chart shows.
CCAF says the data provides transparency and a better snapshot of the crypto industry which can help guide investors, policy and decision makers, researchers and the public. Several large mining companies, most notably Core Scientific, have reallocated portions of their Bitcoin mining capacity to high-performance computing (HPC) services tailored for artificial intelligence workloads. Core’s Denton, Texas facility is a prime example—where mining machines were deracked last year in favor of AI-centric hosting clients.
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Bitcoin now has multiple entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, including most valuable and the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Although major hardware producers like Bitmain and MicroBT have taken steps to localize some assembly in the U.S., the bulk of ASIC chip production still flows through geopolitically sensitive routes. Rising capital costs from tariffs could dampen hardware demand, especially as miners already weigh slimmer post-halving margins.
Regional breakdowns are available for China and the United States, albeit the frequency of country-level updates may differ due to peculiarities of the data collection process. We plan to add more granularity with future updates to better capture regional hashing activities in other countries. If regional hashrate data is not available for a given pool, we extrapolate from the existing sample. The Bitcoin mining map is part of the CBECI—an index that attempts to provide a real-time estimate of the total annual electricity usage of the Bitcoin network, which the CCAF launched last summer. These three pools combined represent approximately 37% of Bitcoin’s total hash rate over the examined period, which started in September 2019. The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), a research institute at the University of Cambridge business school in the UK, has launched an interactive map that shows the average monthly Bitcoin hash rate breakdown by different countries.
Malaysia (4.33%) and Iran (3.82%) are ranked 5th and 6th, while all other countries’ contributions to Bitcoin mining are less than one percent.
That is also aligned with TheMinerMag’s previous estimate that a list of public mining companies represents about 40% of the network’s monthly production market share. TheMinerMag has released its latest North American Bitcoin Mining Map, offering a granular look at where public mining companies are operating across Canada and the United States. According to the updated data—current as of either December 2024 or March 2025—public Bitcoin miners now operate a total of 7.4 gigawatts (GW) of power capacity, a sharp increase from 5.42 GW at the end of 2023. Provides increased transparency and reliable picture of #cryptocurrency industry for investors, policymakers, decision-makers, academic researchers and general public,” the agency said.