Are we going to talk about the Bitcoin hash rate?

quote:

---

Twitter speculation is USA is gearing up for an attack (51%) or Russia is mining.

---

Doesn’t seem all that crazy. Similar spikes in the past month, it just started from a higher base.

quote:

---

Doesn’t seem all that crazy. Similar spikes in the past month, it just started from a higher base.

---

Largest 5 day spike in hash rate in the history of its existence

quote:

---

Largest 5 day spike in hash rate in the history of its existence

---

Hash rate jumped roughly 80M on 5/1 and is up 138M since 4/25. It jumped 132M on 2/26 in just one day.

quote:

---

Twitter speculation is USA is gearing up for an attack (51%)

---

Impossible

Without tinfoil hat on: Probably nothing.
With tinfoil hat on: A BRICS country got to work on mining.

quote:

---

explain to me what this thread means

---

This is what I think it means….

1- More computers (miners) were hooked up to the Bitcoin network.
2 - More computers mining = the ability to calculate and process each block/transaction
3 - ???
4 - Bitcoin to the moon
5 - Profit

quote:

---

There is no doubt that a large government entity just started mining Bitcoin. Nobody else could afford to turn on such an operation.

ETA: Twitter speculation is USA is gearing up for an attack (51%) or Russia is mining.

---

This is all complete speculation and wrong. The top five Bitcoin mining pools account for roughly 75% of Bitcoin's total hashpower and are responsible for the recent growth in hashpower proportionately. These mining pools each consist of thousands of individual miners who can instantly switch their mining to other pools or independently. There is no impending massive centralization of Bitcoin mining power for an organized attack on the network. The individual miners would simply not go along with this.

Currently, Foundry USA is the leading mining pool, commanding 107.66 EH/s or 31.17% of Bitcoin’s total hashpower. Antpool follows with 80.75 EH/s, while F2pool, Binance Pool, and Viabtc boast 42.62 EH/s, 29.91 EH/s, and 23.18 EH/s,

quote:

---

I still have no idea what's going on in here, how bout explaining like I'm a drunk 6 year old

---

There has been a recent increase in Bitcoin hash rate (the computing power used to mine Bitcoin). There is speculation on Twitter that this is because of some large government mining effort and/or effort of a 51% attack on the network which could compromise the network.

In my opinion neither are likely at all. If you look at all of the mining pools (each comprised of many thousands of independent individual miners who "pool" their computing resources), Bitcoin Mining is highly decentralized. In fact, all of the mining pools together add up to over 99% of Bitcoin mining. So if a government or really large well funded nefarious mining entity were to try and take over the Bitcoin network, they would currently be less than 1% of Bitcoin mining even with the current increase in hash rate. There are numerous relatively "large" miners of Bitcoin. So many with such a vested interest in Bitcoin that at least some would know and would make it known if there was something going on with any government attempt to take over the network with a significant investment in new mining equipment.

It is highly advantageous for an individual miner to join a mining pool as they will be more successful in a pool than mining on their own. That is why 99% of mining is accomplished by mining pools. The top five mining pools today account for roughly 75% of Bitcoins being mined. If any of these mining pools wanted to plan a 51% attack to harm the Bitcoin network and do nefarious actions like stealing Bitcoin, what do you think all of the individual miners of that mining pool would do? They would absolutely leave that mining pool in an instant and either join another pool or they would mine individually. They are not going to want to harm the network they are working on to make money. Plus they would disclose what was going on with the nefarious mining pool and it would collapse as all of the individual miners would leave it in a heartbeat.

I can't explain the increase in hash rate other than my gut instinct that miners and whales are trying to ramp up Bitcoin accumulation because they are betting on Bitcoin price appreciation due to an expected increase in Bitcoin adoption plus the Bitcoin halving event next year that historically drives up Bitcoin prices in a significant amount. So more miners are coming on line and/or spare and new mining equipment is being deployed in a more significant way than normal in a rush to gain more Bitcoin and therefore the hash rate is rising.

quote:

---

But how would they know if it was a government entity? Isn’t anonymity in the chain one of the main selling points of the technology?

---

Anonymity is not 100% in mining. I can't speak for all mining pools, but the largest mining pool, Foundry USA has KYC (know your customer, ie know your miner). Also, there are far too many people involved in running massive operations. I would be willing to bet that the majority of the recent hash rate increases are from existing miners adding spare or new mining rigs. Not saying it's not impossible, but it is highly unlikely that governments or nation states are responsible for the recent increase in hash rates.

Hash rates have increased basically proportionately across the mining pools, and less than 1% of the hash rate increase has been outside of mining pools. It would probably be noticed by one of many people in charge of a mining pool if for instance, a thousand new miners joined a mining pool and they all had a large number of the same ASIC mining rigs. It would stand out if there was a large concerted effort going on. Also it would be noticed if a new miner joined a mining pool or mined on their own with $100 million in mining rigs. There are reports that show all of the mining pools and their current and historical hash rates and their % of the total Bitcoin hash rate.

Look at the state of the US Dollar and de-dollarization. The dollar is devaluing and inflation is rampant. US Banks are failing and the Fed just raised interest rates for the tenth time. Is it possible more and more people want to position their resources or increase their existing resources in Bitcoin mining equipment? Seems likely to me. People are going to speculate. Maybe they are right. I just don't see it.