A new study, conducted by the crypto research company Bitooda, suggests that China’s share amounts to only about 50% of global Bitcoin (BTC) mining, unlike the previously estimated 65%.
The earlier estimations were by the University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), which put China’s share of world BTC mining at 65%.
In its report released in mid-July, Bitooda claims it reviewed different public sources and had “confidential conversations” with miners, dealers, and rig manufacturers in order the establish the leading mining locations in the world today.
The company states that it was able to locate around 4.1 gigawatts (GW) of power spread among
153 mining locations, including 67 locations, with around 3 gigawatts power capacity, with energy
price details shared upon conditions of anonymity.
The results suggest that China accounts for about 50% of the BTC hash rate in total. Although still massive, this result undermines previous views that the Asian giant is responsible for most of the mining BTC capacity currently in the world.
The US seems to be doing much better than previously taught with an estimated 14% of global has rate. Russia, Iran, and Kazakhstan stand at 8% each. Meanwhile Canada has 7%, Iceland 2% and the rest of the world accounts for only 3%.
As for power costs, Bitooda estimated that around half of Bitcoin miners are now paying $0.03 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) on average, a substantial drop from $0.06/kWh paid in 2018. This way can be concluded that it costs miners around $5000 to mine one Bitcoin at the current average price.
However, the study has a loophole, admitted by Bitooda itself. They share that their conversations made them believe that they have estimated the majority of mining capacities in the US, Iceland, and Canada, but only a small fraction of what could be the mining capacities in China and the countries put in the rest of the world category.
