Bitmain’s control over the Bitcoin [BTC] network dwindles by a massive 16-month low

Bitmain, once the largest miner of Bitcoin, has now seen a massive drop in its control over the Bitcoin network i.e., the Bitcoin hashrate, over the course of 16 months.

Jihan Wu’s co-founded company, Bitmain, has been weathering the cold winds of the bear market as its losses reach an unprecedented level. The bear market that started after Bitcoin hit its all-time high on December 17, 2017, has now become the longest bear market ever recorded in the history of Bitcoin [BTC].

Bitmain’s mining pools include Antpool and BTC.com which together contributed to a total of 42% of the total hashrate present on the Bitcoin network as it came very close to being capable of a 51% attack.

As per the latest information obtained from Blockchain.com, Antpool’s mining percentage is at 14% while that of BTC.com is at 17.3% and cumulatively it is at 31%.

Bitmain had a really good run when the price of Bitcoin was above the break-even cost which means that miners would be able to turn a profit considering the resources that they had put in. Ever since Bitcoin’s decline, Bitmain and many other mining firms have seen its effect, as Bitmain was speculated to go public but it never happened.

Moreover, the decrease of mining hashrate could be speculated to the price of Bitcoin falling below break-even and its struggle to convince the Hong Kong stock market regulators for the IPO. In December, Bitmain laid off a lot of the employees and said that it was done as they were reorganizing their staff.

Furthermore, Bitmain’s offices in Israel were shut down in December, while more recently, the Amsterdam office in January 2019. A major workforce was laid off from its Texas mining firm as well.

A recent report published by Diar even showed that there were unknown miners taking over the Bitcoin network as Bitmain’s hold over the mining hash rate decreased.

The report stated:

“Unkown miners closed December having solved a whopping 22% of the total blocks up from 6% at the start of last year. The Bitcoin network is currently less likely to experience an attack given the fact the BTC.com controlled pools have lost dominance over the network.”