According to a Cambridge University study, the United States has become the world leader in the Bitcoin mining industry.
New market leaders
America now owns a 35.4% share of all Bitcoin mining. This is partly due to the mass exodus of miners from China after the Chinese government banned mining earlier this year. Kazakhstan and Russia follow the United States, with shares of 18.1% and 11%.
“The immediate effect of the government-imposed crypto mining ban in China was a 38% drop in the global hash rate in June 2021. This is roughly equivalent to China’s share of the hash rate before containment. So this suggests that Chinese miners all ceased operations at the same time.” Said Michel Rauchs, head of digital assets at the Cambridge Centre.
How China Influenced the Bitcoin Mining World
China has long banned cryptocurrency trading. However, the government also imposed a ban on crypto mining earlier this year. That ban gave other countries the opportunity to take over a large part of the mining industry.
In April 2021, America owned only 16.8% of the global hash rate. This means that the US market share has more than doubled. Kazakhstan and Russia have also seen their share increase by 120% and 61%.
In addition to the three new mining superpowers, Canada (9.55%), Ireland (4.68%), Malaysia (4.59%), Germany (4.48%), and Iran (3.11%) are also quite large. players in the mining industry.
“The effect of the Chinese crackdown is a wider geographic spread of hashrate around the world. This can be considered a positive development for network security and Bitcoin’s decentralized principles.”
Environmental concerns for Bitcoin mining
Bitcoin mining has long been criticized for its well-established environmental impact. Today, the Bitcoin network consumes just under 100 TWh per year. However, that means it still uses more energy than a country like the Philippines.
However, to assess how bad mining is for the environment, it is important to determine what percentage of the global mining industry is fueled by non-renewable energy.
In September 2020, Cambridge University released a study that found that only 39% of the world’s Bitcoin mining came from renewable energy sources. Since then, attempts have been made to indicate that half of the world’s mining comes from green energy. This does not seem to have been successful so far.