Two-Thirds of Bitcoins Total Hashrate Come Form China, Reuters Reports

Two-thirds of the Bitcoin network’s hashrate reportedly come from mining facilities located in China, which has grown in the industry thanks to its cheap electricity and favorable climate.

According to Reuters, data from digital asst manager CoinShares shows China’s control over the global BTC hashrate went up from 60% in June of this year to 66%, the highest recorded by the firm, which has reportedly been tracking Bitcoin’s hashrate for nearly two years.

Chris Bendiksen, CoinShares’ head of research, noted the rise may have been related to local firms’ ability to deploy more advanced mining gear. Leading cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturer like Bitmain and MicroBT are Chinese companies, and have lately been rolling out new ASIC mining machines.

Another Chinese firm, Canaan, recently raised $90 million in an initial public offering (IPO) that saw it started trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the CAN ticker. Commenting oon this, Bendiksen said:

This is beneficial to the Chinese mining industry. […] If you are the first to increase your proportion of the hashrate, and you can do that before your competitors, that’s generally good.

Bitcoin’s hashrate has increased by a whopping 168% so far this year, from around 35 million TH/s in early January to around 94 TH/s this month. Some analysts the rise may be related to next year’s halving event, as block rewards on the BTC network will drop from 12.5 BTC per block to 6.25, and miners are trying to mine as much as possible before it.

Historically, BTC’s price has risen after each halving event as its users are reminded of its limited supply. As CryptoGlobe covered, hedge fund manager Charles Hwang has predicted bitcoin’s price will hit $100,000 during the next halving rally.

Earlier this year, China planned to ban bitcoin mining, but dropped the plan soon after. China’s Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, according to CoinShares, are the largest crypto mining hubs in the world, with the latter accounting for over half of the total hashrate. There are, nevertheless, large mining centers in the United States, Russia, and Kazakhstan.

Featured image via Pixabay.