Mining Pools Dominance

What is it?

This metric visualizes Bitcoin hash power composition by mining pool, in top 10 stacked aggregate. 10 source series (foundryusa_dominance, antpool_dominance, f2pool_dominance, viabtc_dominance, binancepool_dominance, marapool_dominance, poolin_dominance, bwpool_dominance, braiinspool_dominance, spiderpool_dominance) + 1 « others » bucket (= 1 - Σ top 10) frontend-computed. Each series is a percentage of total daily hash power (proportion ∈ [0, 1]).

How to read

Stacked-area as percentage : vertical sum = 100% of hash power (top 10 + others). Each colored layer represents a pool - the legend allows toggling pools. A thickening layer over time = this pool gains market share ; a thinning layer = this pool loses. The « others » bucket represents pools outside top 10 (often solo miners + small private pools).

Key zones

Foundry USA (post-China ban 2021-06-21) structurally emerged as #1 global pool (~30%+). AntPool historical #2 (Bitmain). The « others » bucket strongly decreased after China ban (consolidation) and typically oscillates between 5% and 15%. Any layer durably exceeding 33% is a centralization risk marker (51% attack theory). Top 3 concentration above 50% = centralization alert (cross with `top-3-pools-share`).

What to observe

Watch for abrupt changes in layers : rapid emergence (e.g. new pool jumping from 0 to 5% in a few weeks) can indicate large-scale hardware arrival or fragmentation of an existing pool. Thinning pools may be in financial difficulty or hashers migrating to other pools (e.g. lower fees, MEV features). Cross with `mining-pool-concentration-hhi` for aggregated measurement.

Historical context

Pre-China ban (before 2021-06-21) : F2Pool, Poolin, BTC.com, AntPool shared top ranks (China majority origin). Post-China ban : massive Chinese hasher exodus, rapid emergence of Foundry USA (June 2022 pole position confirmation). Post-2022 stabilization : Foundry + AntPool + F2Pool dominate top 3 (~50-60% combined). 2024-04-19 halving marked further consolidation : pools with structural capital (FoundryUSA, MARA Pool) gained share vs agnostic pools.

Expert notes

Pool detection relies on coinbase signatures (block signature, fee output addresses, tag patterns) - standard industry methodology. Pools can occasionally spoof their signature (false positives / negatives ~1-3%). For absolute accuracy, requires a dedicated multi-heuristic parser. Trinity uses native on-chain source attributions that aggregate these heuristics. Pre-test rendering before Batch 8 Mining pools complete (15 charts coming).

Common mistakes to avoid

High pool dominance does not mechanically mean 51% attack risk : pools are aggregators of individual hashers (potentially geographically and corporately diversified). A pool can instantly lose half its hash power if hashers migrate (Foundry June 2024 incident = miners moved without notice). To be analyzed with `top-3-pools-share` and `mining-pool-concentration-hhi` for a robust view of effective centralization.

Programmatic access

REST API

curl -sS \
  'https://api.trinityinsights.io/api/v1/onchain/mining-pools-dominance/history?days=90' \
  -H 'X-API-Key: $TRINITY_API_KEY'

MCP server

{
  "tool": "get_chart_value",
  "metric_id": "mining-pools-dominance",
  "timeframe": "1y"
}

Required tier: pro. See the pricing grid for the tier list and the MCP documentation for multi-client configuration.

Related metrics

• mining-pool-concentration-hhi
• top-3-pools-share
• hash-rate
• difficulty

Institutional disclaimer

Trinity Insights is an educational and analytical tool. The metric above does not constitute investment advice. Trinity Insights is not a Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) registered under MiCA Regulation (EU) 2023/1114. See the full disclaimer.