Top-3 Mining Pools Share
Sum of top 3 mining pools hash power dominance (Foundry + AntPool + F2Pool), 7-day rolling MA. Centralization risk indicator: empirical threshold 0.5 = alert.
What is it?
This metric sums the hash power dominance of the 3 leading mining pools : Foundry USA, AntPool, F2Pool. Formula : sum = foundryusa_dominance + antpool_dominance + f2pool_dominance, smoothed by 7-day moving average for stability. The resulting ratio is typically between 0.4 and 0.6 (40-60% of network hash power concentrated on 3 actors). It's an EXTREME centralization indicator - complementary to HHI which covers top 10.
How to read
Y axis : percentage ∈ [0, 1]. A reading > 0.5 (50%) means at least half of the network hash power is controlled by 3 pools - empirical centralization alert threshold. A reading < 0.33 (33%) would indicate maximum fragmentation (historically rare ratio). The metric being 7d smoothed, variations are gradual - a trend change reflects real consolidation or fragmentation, not daily noise.
Key zones
Zone < 0.33 : minority top 3 (historically rare, pre-China ban fragmentation). Zone 0.33-0.50 : normal moderately concentrated regime. Zone 0.50-0.60 : typical post-2022 regime (Foundry + AntPool + F2Pool dominate). Zone > 0.60 : strong centralization, theoretical 51% attack alert (3 actors colluding is enough to reach 50%+1). Historical post-China ban record briefly touched ~0.65 during maximum consolidation phases.
What to observe
Watch the 0.5 crossing : entry into centralization alert zone. Compare with `mining-pool-concentration-hhi` : top-3 and HHI should move together in stable regime ; a divergence (top-3 rising but HHI stable) marks fragmentation of pools 4-10 (top 3 growing at the expense of others). Also watch the identity of top 3 : if a new pool enters top 3, recalibrate cycle analysis.
Historical context
Pre-China ban (before 2021-06-21) : top 3 typically around 0.40-0.50 (Chinese + Western fragmentation). Post-China ban : massive exodus → rapid consolidation to 0.55-0.60 with FoundryUSA emergence. 2022-2023 stabilization around 0.55. 2023-2024 peak briefly at 0.62-0.65 (post-halving consolidation). 2024-04-19 halving structurally strengthened pools with capital - top-3 has remained durably >0.5 since.
Expert notes
The 7d rolling is a compromise between reactivity (vs noisy daily) and stability (vs 30d too slow to detect rapid shifts). For fine analysis, compare with 30d rolling (long-term perspective) - divergence between both indicates change SPEED (7d rolling overheating, 30d stable = RAPID change in progress). Top 3 fixed on Foundry + AntPool + F2Pool - for other triplets, use MULTIBAND_DEFS `mining-pools-dominance` toggle.
Common mistakes to avoid
A high top-3 does not mechanically imply collusion or 51% attack : the 3 pools are independent corporate entities (Cipher Mining/FoundryUSA, Bitmain/AntPool, indépendant/F2Pool) - collusion would be technically detectable quickly and legally risky. The risk is rather PARALYSIS in case of one actor failure (e.g. Foundry June 2024 incident). To be analyzed with `mining-pool-concentration-hhi` for aggregated view.
Programmatic access
REST API
curl -sS \
'https://api.trinityinsights.io/api/v1/onchain/top-3-pools-share/history?days=90' \
-H 'X-API-Key: $TRINITY_API_KEY'MCP server
{
"tool": "get_chart_value",
"metric_id": "top-3-pools-share",
"timeframe": "1y"
}Required tier: performance. See the pricing grid for the tier list and the MCP documentation for multi-client configuration.
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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.