Mining Centralization Race

[bitmover]

I did another animation, but this time using LoyceV block data .
This animation is not related to bitcointalk, but to bitcoin mining.

You can see the animation here, just click on the image.

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/2879848/

This is a different perspective than to usual pie charts with mining centralization, such as those from https://www.blockchain.com/charts/pools

This bar chart is based in % of blocks mined within one month period.

I liked to visualize data like this. In the beginning, especially before 2012, we can see that mining was more decentralized when miners where "Unknown". I believe this Unknown are more decentralized, probably many small independent miners.


Based in the animation/chart we can see that the four biggest mining pools mined 56% of the blocks in the last month.

This is a good way to visualize mining centralization over time.


All my animations here:
Bitcointalk Race Stats Animation - all in one thread

[LoyceV]

I like it, your animation makes it clear how quickly quickly mining pools gain and lose market share.

I'd love to see a similar animation on the top 15 cryptocurrencies over time, if you can find the data.

[bitmover]

I like it, your animation makes it clear how quickly quickly mining pools gain and lose market share.

I'd love to see a similar animation on the top 15 cryptocurrencies over time, if you can find the data.

A friend in my local board made it, sabotag3x

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5252928.msg54551072#msg54551072

He made the top 10, with data from coinmarketcap.

[PrimeNumber7]

I liked to visualize data like this. In the beginning, especially before 2012, we can see that mining was more decentralized when miners where "Unknown". I believe this Unknown are more decentralized, probably many small independent miners.

This is not a valid assumption. In bitcoin's early days, Satoshi likely controlled nearly all of bitcoin's mining. As Satoshi's dominance waned, there were likely others who controlled large percentages of total bitcoin mining. This was when there was virtually zero commerce on the blockchain, so this really did not matter. There were probably a small number of entities that controlled large percentages of the total blocks mined when GPU started to be used for mining, and in the early ASIC days.

All that "unknown" means is that your source does not know who was mining the blocks during that time period. It could be a single entity mining all the "unknown" blocks, it could be a different entity for each "unknown" block mined, or it could be (most likely) something in between.

[HeRetiK]

Seeing some of those names makes me feel weirdly nostalgic.

I liked to visualize data like this. In the beginning, especially before 2012, we can see that mining was more decentralized when miners where "Unknown". I believe this Unknown are more decentralized, probably many small independent miners.

This is not a valid assumption. In bitcoin's early days, Satoshi likely controlled nearly all of bitcoin's mining. As Satoshi's dominance waned, there were likely others who controlled large percentages of total bitcoin mining. This was when there was virtually zero commerce on the blockchain, so this really did not matter. There were probably a small number of entities that controlled large percentages of the total blocks mined when GPU started to be used for mining, and in the early ASIC days.

All that "unknown" means is that your source does not know who was mining the blocks during that time period. It could be a single entity mining all the "unknown" blocks, it could be a different entity for each "unknown" block mined, or it could be (most likely) something in between.

Yeah, I think the large amount of "unknown" is simply because miners and mining pools marking their blocks didn't take off until 2012/2013.

e.g. Look at Slush's pool block history:
https://slushpool.com/stats/blocks/?c=btc

Around page 2895 (Mid January 2011) you'll see that they mined ~10% of all blocks per day. Around March 2011 they were already at ~20%. In the stats Slush's pool doesn't show up until late 2011 / early 2012, so the stats simply show when Slush's pool started marking their blocks rather than their actual hash power.

[hugeblack]

I liked to visualize data like this. In the beginning, especially before 2012, we can see that mining was more decentralized when miners where "Unknown". I believe this Unknown are more decentralized, probably many small independent miners.

I do not agree with the designation of centralization, there is no Mining pool that can control more than 50%, so we are now more decentralized than in the past. You can call the situation currently distributed, but it is decentralized.

Also, the unknown does not mean random pools, so perhaps these same people control these unknown pools.
Generally, the presence of the unknown is a good thing, but it is better that you cannot control more than 50%.

I like it, your animation makes it clear how quickly quickly mining pools gain and lose market share.

It will soon differ with Binance's entry into this market^[1]. We will see many changes happening soon.

I'd love to see a similar animation on the top 15 cryptocurrencies over time, if you can find the data.

@OgNasty has some old data ---> Historic Bitcoin Exchange Rates (since July of 2010)^[2]



[1] https://pool.binance.com/
[2] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5254496.0

[Wind_FURY]

There's more danger for the network to be politically be leveraged by large mining pools, than for those mining pools to censor transactions in my opinion.

I believe we should continue to spread community awareness for the benefits of BetterHash.

[bitmover]

Yeah, I think the large amount of "unknown" is simply because miners and mining pools marking their blocks didn't take off until 2012/2013.

e.g. Look at Slush's pool block history:
https://slushpool.com/stats/blocks/?c=btc

Around page 2895 (Mid January 2011) you'll see that they mined ~10% of all blocks per day. Around March 2011 they were already at ~20%. In the stats Slush's pool doesn't show up until late 2011 / early 2012, so the stats simply show when Slush's pool started marking their blocks rather than their actual hash power.

Thanks for the info.
LoyceV, can this data be added to the Csv file? This would make the Csv more precise.

[LoyceV]

LoyceV, can this data be added to the Csv file? This would make the Csv more precise.

I'll stick to only Blockchair's data, but feel free to post it in my topic.

[DaveF]

So when years ago F2 was nearing 50% and lots of people moved their hash and when BTC.COM / ViaBTC / AntPool were the bad guys because they were all 'Bitmain' controlled and people moved their hash it's all been forgotten?

Pools have come and gone over the years and will continue to do so. 50% or even 40% for the most part is not a worry.

This is what I worry about (everything after the line "Somewhat rambling thing, I posted something similar a while ago but...":
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5243208.msg54523633#msg54523633

-Dave

[AB de Royse777]

A friend in my local board made it, sabotag3x

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5252928.msg54551072#msg54551072

He made the top 10, with data from coinmarketcap.

Unfortunately, I can not see the animation, there are some flash error when I tried on my browser.

And in your mining centralization, there is this unknown source once reached over 40% of the market share and then disappeared very quickly :-P

[bitmover]

And in your mining centralization, there is this unknown source once reached over 40% of the market share and then disappeared very quickly :-P

This is not an animation problem. As LoyceV said, he used only Blockchair's data.

Blockchair probably took a few days/weeks to recognize new mining pools, in this case I believe t is Poolin,which got 12% in the next month and was 0% before, and a few others with 1% that showed up later like Tepool and binance.