Research: China's bitcoin hashrate share fell from 44% to 0% between May and July, as the US rose from 17% in April to 35% in August and Kazakhstan rose to 18%
Earlier research had already recorded China's declining share of Bitcoin hashrate alongside a rising U.S. share before the reported collapse. The new reading turns that gradual redistribution into an abrupt change in the observed mining map.
China's mining crackdown was already pushing operators to other countries in coverage of the authorities' campaign against miners. The significance is not merely lower Chinese activity, but the emergence of the U.S. and Kazakhstan as the two largest reported destinations.
First-order effects
The United States becomes the largest reported Bitcoin-mining location at 35% of hashrate, while China moves from a leading position to no measured share in the research window.
Kazakhstan's 18% share makes it an immediate second hub for operators displaced from China.
Mining operators seeking to replace Chinese capacity face a clearer choice between the leading U.S. hub and the rapidly expanded Kazakh hub, concentrating competition for viable infrastructure in those markets.
Third-order effects
The episode points to Bitcoin mining functioning less as a fixed national industry than as mobile infrastructure that relocates when policy conditions change.
China's later reported return to 21.1% of global hashrate through apparent covert mining suggests that measured geographic exits may not permanently eliminate capacity; they can shift it into less visible operating arrangements.
The trend: Bitcoin mining is becoming a geographically mobile infrastructure business, with regulation and local connectivity reshaping where capacity is visible and concentrated.
I think this is huge. America is seizing the opportunity to play a big role in the growing bitcoin mining economy. https://www.theblockcrypto.com/ ...
@saylor
@saylor on x
#Bitcoin is now Made In America. https://twitter.com/...
@tsarrast
Brian Rast on x
China blundered. After years of us being outdone by a regime that can plan long term while we can't, this small shift will have a large long term strategic impact. Remember this in ten years. https://twitter.com/...
@stimuluspkg822
@stimuluspkg822 on x
This news in the same week that $NSAV announces negotiations with crypto mining companies wanting to leave China and set up shop in the USA. https://twitter.com/... US overtakes China as biggest bitcoin mining hub after Beijing ban https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@marathondh
@marathondh on x
US overtakes China as biggest bitcoin mining hub after Beijing ban https://www.ft.com/... “The China shutdown has been great for the industry and US miners... Overnight, fewer players were going after the same finite number of coins.” - @fgthiel
@pkedrosky
Paul Kedrosky on x
This is just grotesquely wasteful, even if the U.S. is only at half of peak China bitcoin mining levels. US overtakes China as biggest bitcoin mining hub after Beijing ban https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@arbedout
Arbed_out on x
According to the latest from CBECI, Iran's share of BTC hashrate has steadily increased over summer of 2021. There was a blanket ban on ‘crypto mining’ (read: GPU farms for alts as well as BTC) announced May 26th, lasting through September 22nd, sooo... https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/…
@kenziesigalos
MacKenzie Sigalos on x
Data just out from Cambridge shows the U.S. is now the world's #1 destination for #bitcoin miners, beating out China for the first time. Meanwhile China's share of global hashrate drops to zero for July 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@twobitidiot
Ryan Selkis on x
I have never been more bullish on bitcoin or crypto broadly than I am right now. We just need to avoid a catastrophic own goal and the US wins the next tech paradigm shift just as it did with the previous three. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@cambridgejbs
Cambridge Judge on x
Updated figures from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) show that China's crackdown on #Bitcoin mining has resulted in the USA taking the leading share of global hashrate. via @EllieOlcott for the @FT. https://www.ft.com/...
@mattsteinglass
@mattsteinglass on x
If Bitcoin is so great bc unlike fiat currency supply is finite (digital gold), and the problem is that mining consumes tons of energy, why not just stop mining them? Why do crypto advocates have a problem with a mining ban? https://www.ft.com/...
@samjoiner
Sam Joiner on x
New: Watch the US overtake China as the world's largest Bitcoin mining hub just two months after Beijing's crypto ban. Great fun working on this graphic with @sdbernard for @EllieOlcott's story. Data from Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. https://www.ft.com/... htt…
@sdbernard
Steven Bernard on x
The US storms to the top of the bitcoin mining chart after Beijing's crypto ban. Had a blast working on this with @samjoiner. Thanks to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity index for the data Read @EllieOlcott's story https://www.ft.com/... #dataviz https://twitter.com/...