AntPool’s Streak of 7 Consecutive Blocks Sparks Centralization Fears in Bitcoin Mining

2024-5-20 15:28

Concerns about Bitcoin mining centralization have resurfaced following a notable event involving AntPool, the second-largest BTC mining pool

On May 17, AntPool mined seven consecutive blocks between block heights 843,893 and 843,904 in one hour and thirty-eight minutes.

AntPool Mines 7 Consecutive Blocks

During this period, the mining pool confirmed over 20,000 transactions and earned 23 BTC—21.875 BTC in mining rewards and 1.283 BTC in fees.

AntPool 7 Consecutive Mined Blocks. Source: Mempool.space

This impressive streak caught the crypto community’s attention, highlighting the prevalence of dominant pools like AntPool and Foundry USA. These two mining pools control over 50% of Bitcoin’s hashrate, raising centralization concerns. For context, Foundry USA mined the block before AntPool’s streak and the two blocks immediately after, resulting in ten consecutive blocks mined by these two pools in one day.

Read more: Top Cryptocurrency Mining Pools To Join 2024

Bitcoin Top 5 Mining Pools by Hashrate. Source: MiningPoolStats

Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr has previously warned about the risks posed by the dominance of large mining pools. He argues that such centralization threatens Bitcoin’s decentralized nature, potentially leading to censorship and control issues. Crypto analyst TOBTC also shared similar concerns.

“This centralization trend, driven by economies of scale, allows these pools to censor transactions, as seen with F2Pool’s compliance with OFAC sanctions. Such power concentration poses an existential threat to Bitcoin’s decentralized nature and its foundational principle of trustlessness,” TOBTC remarked.

Meanwhile, these pools’ dominance is considerably unsurprising, as the current economic realities make it challenging for smaller miners to compete. Banking giant JPMorgan reportedly stated that the current hashrate and power consumption on the BTC network had pushed the average mining cost to about $45,000.

Moreover, the recent regulatory scrutiny will likely intensify the pressure on Bitcoin miners. Bitcoin mining is now viewed as a national security issue in the US. President Joe Biden recently ordered Chinese-backed MineOne Partners Ltd. to halt construction of a crypto mine in Wyoming and sell the property.

Read more: Making Passive Income From Crypto Mining: How to Get Started

Meanwhile, other countries are concerned about energy consumption. Venezuelan authorities recently announced plans to disconnect all crypto mining farms from their energy grid. Similarly, The Norwegian government is also focused on regulating data centers and curbing its energy use for Bitcoin mining.

The post AntPool’s Streak of 7 Consecutive Blocks Sparks Centralization Fears in Bitcoin Mining appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Similar to Notcoin - Blum - Airdrops In 2024

origin »

Bitcoin (BTC) íà Currencies.ru

$ 97046.13 (-0.48%)
Îáúåì 24H $97.5b
Èçìåíåèÿ 24h: 2.84 %, 7d: 8.96 %
Cåãîäíÿ L: $94006.77 - H: $98156.69
Êàïèòàëèçàöèÿ $1920.102b Rank 1
Öåíà â ÷àñ íîâîñòè $ 67116.97 (44.59%)

bitcoin centralization antpool blocks consecutive sparks streak

Èñòî÷íèê: beincrypto.com

bitcoin centralization → Ðåçóëüòàòîâ: 126


Weiss Crypto Ratings Drops EOS Over Centralization Concerns but Who Cares

By CCN Markets: Weiss Crypto Ratings on Friday announced that it is downgrading the technology score of EOS, a blockchain protocol developed and distributed by Block. one. The US-based economic research agency said EOS has “serious problems with centralization,” three months after it put the project among the top three blockchains alongside Ripple and Bitcoin.

2019-6-9 14:17


Centralization: Weiss Ratings Downgrades EOS, Cites Cardano As A Better Option

Bitcoin, the number one cryptocurrency in the sector by market cap, almost always steals the spotlight from all the other altcoins. Since April, when the crypto market began to break out of the bear market that plagued it for months, Bitcoin initially began the surge and seemed to pull up all the other coins along […] The post Centralization: Weiss Ratings Downgrades EOS, Cites Cardano As A Better Option appeared first on ZyCrypto.

2019-6-8 17:50


Are Odds Increasing or Decreasing for Obtaining a Completely Decentralized Crypto Marketplace?

When the whole concept of Bitcoin came into the industry ten years ago, the world believed that Satoshi held a victory that Cypherpunks could not claim, making an opportunity for decentralization. The goal was to reduce the interactions with centralization and censorship, focusing on the financial freedom afforded by decentralization. Bitcoin made it possible to […]

2019-4-22 20:10


Is the crypto community truly moving towards decentralization? Or is it just a pipe dream?

Satoshi succeeded where Cypherpunks failed [or did they?], he made it so that we would be free from the clutches of centralization and move towards something better – decentralization. The Ethos of Bitcoin or its underlying technology was to move away from centralization and censorship and towards decentralization, where transactions wouldn’t be censored, and people […] The post Is the crypto community truly moving towards decentralization? Or is it just a pipe dream? appeared first on AMBCrypto.

2019-4-21 16:30


Ôîòî:

Op Ed: With Bitcoin, Anarchy Is the Point, Not the Problem

Last week, there was a panel at SXSW that was effectively a debate on the merits of permissioned blockchains versus permissionless systems like Bitcoin. I listened to the entire audio of the panel discussion, after Programming Bitcoin author Jimmy Song tweeted it out the other day, and I thought he did an awesome job of pointing out the key value proposition of Bitcoin and why it is not worth comparing to permissioned systems.

2019-3-23 17:29


Ôîòî:

What Is Surveillance Capitalism and How Does Crypto Resolve it?

One of the most important narratives in the crypto space has been its stand against centralization. In today’s globalized economy, where different cultures and ethnicities rapidly consolidate around the same interests in technology, social media, and free services, there is an alarming sense that Internet use is becoming more centralized, which gives birth to technologyRead MoreRead More.

2019-3-20 18:00


BetterHash Can Improve Bitcoin Mining Decentralization, But When?

The level of centralization in mining is one of the more credible problems with Bitcoin today. While there has not been much activity in terms of actual attacks made possible through mining centralization (although some would refer to SegWit2x as an attack), it does add questions to the level of security offered by various layer-two […] The post BetterHash Can Improve Bitcoin Mining Decentralization, But When? appeared first on Coinjournal.

2019-3-12 16:15


Ôîòî:

Op Ed: Defining Decentralization: How Ambiguity Continues to Divide Crypto

There are many keywords in blockchain, but few spark as much emotion as “decentralization. ” For many of us, it was the dream of decentralization that inspired us to embark into the industry in the first place — the driving force encouraging us to explore the many industries and practice areas that could be positively impacted by this technology.

2019-3-1 19:43


Ôîòî:

Why Bitcoin? Patreon Pushed By Mastercard to Ban Accounts in ‘Terrible Precedent’

Crowdfunding platform Patreon is grappling with fiat currency centralization after MasterCard demanded it must block the account of a prominent US author and several others. Spencer: Patreon ‘Axed’ Me Citing an email from the company in August, Robert Spencer, who penned multiple books about countering Jihad and advised law enforcement agencies, said it had “axed” him and he could no longer put contributed funds to any use.

2018-12-26 20:00


äàëüøå åùå 77 íîâîñòåé →

Ïàðòíåðû Currencies.ru

Àíàëîã Notcoin - Blum - Èãðàé è çàðàáàòûâàé Ìîíåòû



Ðåêëàìà íà Currencies.ru

Ñàìîå ñâåæåå íà Currencies.ru

HBO Claims It Has Unmasked Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto

HBO announces a documentary aiming to reveal Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, stirring major excitement and curiosity in the cryptocurrency world. The post HBO Claims It Has Unmasked Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Counters Bitcoin IOU and cbBTC Controversy

Analysts and experts have dismissed the IOU claims, asserting that ETFs fully own the underlying Bitcoin and that recent price fluctuations are driven by market participants. The post Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong Counters Bitcoin IOU and cbBTC Controversy appeared first on BeInCrypto.

Bitcoin Mining Halt Triggers 20% Electricity Price Surge in Norwegian City

Experts argue that this rise in energy bills highlights how Bitcoin mining can contribute to lower overall energy costs by distributing fixed grid expenses across a broader user base. The post Bitcoin Mining Halt Triggers 20% Electricity Price Surge in Norwegian City appeared first on BeInCrypto.