Bitcoin Mining Pool Leaders Control 65% of Hashrate

Bitcoin News

The Bitcoin network's mining coordination layer became more concentrated on July 31, when Japan's SBI Crypto shut a pool it had operated for five years and left the sector's largest operators with an even larger share of block production. A client notice signed by chief executive Hiroaki Morita said the pool stopped accepting new hashrate at 7 a.m. Japan time on July 31, equivalent to 22:00 UTC on July 30, and that submissions after that cutoff would not count for final payouts. The notice did not give a reason, but it directed users to move capacity to Braiins, Luxor Pool or NeoPool. Before the exit, the pool had already weakened: its seven-day average hashrate stood near 20.9 EH/s on June 30, about 2.2% of total network security, then fell roughly 64% over the following month. The closure matters because industry hashrate data show Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool already accounted for about six in ten recently mined blocks, with their combined share reaching roughly 64.8% during the week of July 20. Adding ViaBTC pushes the four largest pools close to 70%. That revives a long-running debate around ASIC Mining economics and whether a small number of pool operators can influence transaction inclusion or attempt a majority attack. The risk is real but often overstated: pools do not own all the machines behind them. They act as coordination layers that assign work and aggregate rewards, while independent miners can redirect capacity if an operator behaves poorly. A mid-tier exit like SBI's tends to push peripheral capacity toward the largest pools because miners prioritize stable payouts, low latency and deep liquidity rather than rebuilding smaller operators. The underlying hash power remains distributed, even if organizational coordination is less so. Monitoring pool share is therefore as important as monitoring total hashrate, because the network's security budget depends on how independently block assembly is controlled.

Strategy, the largest U.S.-listed corporate holder of Bitcoin, used its second-quarter 2026 earnings call to disclose a much larger disposal ceiling than previously indicated. Chief executive Phong Le said the company's current capital-management framework could allow up to $5 billion of Bitcoin sales, about four times the $1.25 billion figure outlined earlier. The planned proceeds have three stated uses: as much as $1.25 billion to replenish dollar reserves, roughly $1.76 billion to cover annual preferred-stock dividends and interest obligations, and up to $2 billion for repurchases of common shares and digital credit securities. Le stressed that $5 billion is a maximum authorization, not a confirmed sale schedule, and that actual execution will depend on market conditions and cash requirements. The disclosure landed alongside weak quarterly accounting: Strategy recorded a second-quarter net loss of $8.22 billion, or $24.45 per diluted share, while operating losses reached $8.33 billion. Almost all of that came from an $8.32 billion unrealized fair-value markdown on its Bitcoin position. As of July 26, the company held 843,775 BTC, purchased at an average cost of $75,476, with a stated market value near $54.64 billion. Its software business remained stable, generating $122.4 million in revenue, up 6.9% year over year, with a 66.6% gross margin. Strategy has already sold 3,588 BTC for $218.4 million to fund preferred dividends, ending a four-year accumulation-only streak. The company's earlier sale precedent makes the new ceiling more sensitive because it converts a one-off dividend payment into an expandable financing tool. Chairman Michael Saylor has sought to frame such sales as a mechanism to prepare investors for occasional balance-sheet use of Bitcoin, rather than a shift toward structural reduction. Still, with the coin trading well below the company's average cost, the enlarged ceiling raises a central question for a bear market treasury: whether disciplined capital management becomes routine selling when prices remain suppressed far below a prior all-time high.

COINOTAG's proprietary 42-indicator composite S/R scoring engine shows Bitcoin trading near $63,434, just above the $63,161 pivot scored 78/100 on Fibo 0.214 and SMA 50 confluence. A clean break opens the $65,746 zone, rated 79/100 from Flip S→R and EMA 20, while losing $62,830 support, scored 80/100 on Ichimoku Senkou A and Swing Low, would confirm the existing downtrend. Derivatives positioning is mildly constructive but crowded: funding is 0.0057%, open interest is $12.75 billion, and accounts are 68.5% long. With Fear and Greed at 27, sentiment remains fearful; a daily close below $62,830 invalidates the bullish reclaim thesis.