In the last three days, Foundry USA and Antpool have emerged as the leading forces in bitcoin mining, together controlling a whopping 56.7% of the network’s total hashrate. Since the year began, Foundry’s hashrate has climbed by about 75 exahash per second (EH/s), marking a significant increase.

Foundry USA and Antpool Control Well Over Half the Hashrate

Archived data from Aug. 24, 2024, reveals that these two mining pools dominated the Bitcoin network over the last 72 hours, seizing more than half of all blocks discovered. Foundry and Antpool particularly benefited from this week’s fee spike, which resulted in blocks filled with much higher fees than usual.

Three-day hashrate distribution according to btc.com stats.

As of now, with the total hashrate hovering around 651 EH/s, Foundry’s contribution over the past three days stands at approximately 215.79 EH/s. Over the past seven days, Foundry maintained a strong output of around 199.02 EH/s. Antpool, the second most powerful pool, generated 153.55 EH/s over the same three-day period, with its seven-day performance hitting 162.55 EH/s.

Back in January, Foundry’s hashrate was recorded at 140.26 EH/s, making its growth of 75.53 EH/s all the more notable. Although Antpool’s growth has been steadier, starting the year at 147.40 EH/s, it has consistently held its position as the second-largest mining pool throughout 2024.

Excluding blocks mined by unknown entities, such as the early days and the Satoshi blocks, Antpool leads the all-time block discovery count with 89,726 blocks found. Trailing behind is F2pool with 86,915 blocks, while Foundry still has some catching up to do, with 41,987 blocks mined, according to btc.com’s records. At the current rate, though, Foundry has swiftly climbed the ranks.