U.S., Russia and China held 65.4% of Bitcoin mining

The United States, Russia and China accounted for 65.4% of Bitcoin’s estimated mining hashrate in October, down from 66.2% in the previous comparison. Russia’s share rose to 18.1%, while the U.S. share fell to 35.6% and China’s declined to 11.7%.

Luxor Technology’s Hashrate Index published the estimates on Oct. 5. The U.S. was estimated to have about 335 exahashes per second (EH/s), down from 345 EH/s in the previous edition. Russia rose from about 162 EH/s to 170 EH/s, while China fell from roughly 115 EH/s to 110 EH/s.

The estimated global network hashrate rose slightly, from about 940 EH/s to 941 EH/s. Hashrate measures the computing power used to mine Bitcoin and process transactions. The network figure is based on a 30-day average.

Hashrate Index labels the publication a fourth-quarter update, but the estimates reflect observations from the preceding third quarter. The previous comparison, published in July, used estimates for June. The October figures are therefore not a live count of mining machines operating on Oct. 6 or a completed fourth-quarter result.

The estimates combine mining-pool data with information on ASIC trading flows and firmware adoption. Pool-based location estimates can be affected by unrepresentative samples. Virtual private networks and proxies can also make the physical location of mining activity harder to determine.

The country figures describe where mining activity is estimated to occur, not who owns the equipment or controls the mining pools. Pool operators coordinate mining work and distribute rewards, while individual miners provide computing power.

Under traditional Stratum arrangements, miners generally receive the information needed to build block headers without selecting the transactions included in a block. Stratum V2 can allow miners to choose transaction sets, but the country estimates do not show how widely that feature is used.

A decline in one country’s hashrate does not prove that the same machines moved to another country. Equipment can be switched off in one location while separate machines begin operating elsewhere. The estimates therefore do not establish a transfer of mining capacity from the U.S. to Russia.

Hashrate Index has linked some regional declines to mining facilities shifting toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Core Scientific reported on July 28 that it was repurposing some remaining mining facilities for high-density colocation services where conditions allowed.

The estimates do not distinguish between temporarily curtailed equipment, facilities being rebuilt and completed mining exits. Further observations would be needed to determine whether the changes persist. Ownership records and pool data would be needed to assess control of the mining capacity.