The United States, Russia and China still control about 65.4% of Bitcoin's estimated hashrate, down only slightly from 66.2% in the July edition. Within that total, the US share shrank while Russia's grew, but the figures measure location, not who owns or controls the machines.
Bitcoin mining remains concentrated in the same three countries, even as the balance between them shifts. Hashrate Index's Oct. 5 country estimates put the US at about 335 EH/s, down from 345 EH/s in the previous edition, while Russia rose from 162 to 170 EH/s.
US share slips as Russia gains ground
The US share of estimated global hashrate fell from 36.7% to 35.6%, while Russia's share rose from 17.2% to 18.1%. China's estimate declined too, from about 115 to 110 EH/s, equal to a drop from 12.2% to 11.7% of the network. The global hashrate estimate barely moved, rising from about 940 to 941 EH/s over the same period.
As a result, the combined share held by the three leading countries slipped from 66.2% to 65.4%, a decline of about 0.8%. However, the comparison provides no confidence range to show whether that shift is statistically meaningful.
Location data does not reveal who controls the machines
A country's mining share describes where computing activity is estimated to occur, not who owns the equipment or who coordinates it. The report notes that pool operators, not individual miners, select which transactions enter a block, so spreading hardware across more countries does not by itself mean more independent parties choose block contents.
Luxor, the firm behind Hashrate Index, attributes some regional declines to miners switching toward artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. Keel Infrastructure said in an Aug. 10 disclosure that it had completed decommissioning all of its US Bitcoin mining operations to prepare for HPC construction, while Core Scientific described an ongoing process of repurposing its remaining mining facilities for high-density colocation.
Geographic estimates and the causes behind them remain separate claims. A fuller assessment would still need ownership data and evidence about who actually controls pool participation and block-template selection.
Source: CryptoSlate
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