Bitcoin Mining Centralization Concerns Grow Amid AntPool Influence

Bitcoin mining, integral to its censorship-resistance, may not be as decentralized as desired. Casey Rodarmor, creator of Bitcoin Ordinals, has highlighted concerns over the independence of major mining pools. It appears these entities might be operating as proxies for AntPool, sharing transaction policies. This revelation, supported by findings from developer 0xB10C, suggests that pools like BTC.com, Binance, and Poolin, among others, might not be autonomously selecting transactions.  according to Unchainedcrypto.

The impact of this situation is profound, with AntPool and Foundry commanding the majority of Bitcoin’s mining operations over the past year, according to Blockchain.com data. This centralization risks the very essence of Bitcoin—its resistance to control. However, solutions like Stratum V2 are emerging, developed to allow miners greater control over block transactions, aiming to mitigate such centralization risks and improve mining protocol security.