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In a significant shift within the bitcoin mining landscape, Antpool’s resurgence in 2023 has marked a notable trend in the consolidation of bitcoin rewards, surpassing Foundry USA in blocks mined. The Miner Mag’s recent analysis reveals that Antpool, along with other major pools, has centralized coinbase block rewards, reflecting a deeper, more interconnected mining ecosystem. This consolidation hints at unknown and strategic financial arrangements and evolving power dynamics among leading mining pools.
According to The Miner Mag, ten of the fifteen largest mining pools have been merging their coinbase block rewards since early 2022. This trend includes prominent names like Binance Pool, BTC.com, and Braiins Pool, among others.
These pools, initially launched as independent operators, are now regularly sending their block rewards to shared output addresses, indicating a shift towards cooperative, strategic operations
The Miner Mag’s latest report shows that Antpool has been at the forefront of this consolidation movement. In March 2022, it was the sole pool directing rewards to specific output addresses.
Over time, other major pools began following suit, routing their rewards to coincide with Antpool’s, resulting in a substantial aggregation of mining rewards. This trend underscores Antpool’s influential role in shaping the industry’s consolidation direction.
The pooling of resources to single output addresses suggests the presence of financial agreements aimed at stabilizing daily payouts. This is particularly relevant as all involved pools utilize a Full Pay-per-Share (FPPS) model, necessitating consistent payouts to miner customers.
With such a model, pools are more susceptible to fluctuations in mining luck, thus emphasizing the need for robust financial support systems, as noted by The Miner Mag’s research.
The consolidation raises questions about the autonomy and interdependence of bitcoin mining operations. The Miner Mag hints at a potentially dominant financing entity, possibly linked to Antpool or other Bitmain-related entities, managing these consolidated addresses.
This entity’s control over the coinbase and hopping addresses implies a significant influence over the distribution and management of mining rewards.
While the specifics of the theorized financing counterparty remain unclear, The Miner Mag suggests Antpool’s early transaction patterns indicate its potential role. As mining pools consolidate their rewards and possibly their hashrate to Antpool, the dynamics within the mining community shift.
As of December, Antpool leads the charge by mining 26.6% of the blocks, with Binance Pool and other parties within the group accounting for a significant portion of the remaining shares. Antpool managed to be the top earner in November but this month, Foundry USA is leading by 28.78% of the total hashrate.
