3 Bitcoin Mining Pools Control 63% of All Blocks — Is Bitcoin Still Decentralized?
Three mining pools found 63.3% of Bitcoin's blocks in the month to November 2 — and the largest alone took 26.2%. The machines belong to thousands of miners who can leave anytime, so the risk is real but narrower than the headline: here's what pools can and cannot do.
Three Bitcoin mining pools found 63.3% of all new blocks in the month to November 2, 2026, and the single largest pool alone found 26.2%. That means a handful of coordinators now stand between your transaction and the blockchain — yet the machines behind them belong to thousands of independent miners who can leave at any time. Bitcoin is not as decentralized as its founding story suggests, but it is not as centralized as that headline number implies either.
Bitcoin is trading near $77,000 after four straight red weeks, and the network securing it has never been bigger: hash rate stood at about 1,046 exahashes per second (EH/s) on November 2, while difficulty sits at 148.36 trillion after its 11th upward adjustment of 2026. At the same time, miners earned $1.215 billion in October — their best month since November 2025 — even as the profitability of each unit of computing power fell 17.54%. The squeeze is pushing small miners toward the biggest pools, and that is exactly why the concentration number matters now.
This article explains what the 63.3% figure really means, what mining pools can and cannot do with that power, and what would actually have to happen before Bitcoin's decentralization was genuinely at risk.
What the numbers actually say
Block data for the month to November 2, 2026 shows the largest mining pool found 26.2% of Bitcoin's blocks, and the top three pools together found 63.3%. Hash rate — the number of hash guesses the network's miners make every second — was estimated at about 1,046 EH/s on November 2. Nobody measures hash rate directly: it is inferred from difficulty and the pace of blocks, and a one-day reading rests on only about 144 blocks, so daily estimates swung between 964 and 1,228 EH/s from October 24 to November 1.
Difficulty, the smoothest record of hash rate, tells the longer story. It rose 5.54% to 148.36 trillion at block 973,728 on October 29, 2026 — the 11th increase of the year — even as the network's hash rate slipped from 1,228.44 EH/s to 1,064.80 EH/s in the same window, a sign that some miners switched off as profitability tightened. The next adjustment, expected around November 12, is currently projected to edge slightly lower.
The economics explain the squeeze. Miners generated $1.215 billion in revenue in October, their best monthly result since November 2025, but hashprice — the revenue earned per unit of computing power — fell 17.54% because network hashrate above 1,080 EH/s intensified competition. Total revenue rose while individual miners earned less. That is the classic setup for consolidation: when margins thin, miners join the biggest pools for the steadiest payouts, and the biggest pools get bigger.
How a mining pool actually works
A mining pool is a coordinator, not an owner. Thousands of individual miners point their machines at a pool's server. The pool splits the work of searching for a valid block hash, and when any member machine finds a block, the 3.125 BTC subsidy plus fees are shared out in proportion to the work each miner contributed. Since the April 2024 halving, that subsidy is 3.125 BTC per block, and with roughly 144 blocks a day, the network issues about 450 new BTC daily no matter how much hashrate joins. New machines do not grow the pie — they split it among more participants.
Joining a pool smooths income. A solo miner with a small operation might wait years to find a block; in a pool, the same miner earns a small, steady stream every day. That smoothing is worth more when margins are thin, which is why hashprice squeezes push miners toward large pools. The trade-off is coordination power: the pool operator decides which transactions go into the block template its miners work on.
That last point is the crux of the whole debate. Pool share is measured in blocks found, but the power it represents is transaction selection — which transactions get confirmed first, and in theory, which get left out. It is not ownership of the machines, and it is not control of anyone's coins.
What most people get wrong about pool dominance
The most common misunderstanding is treating pool share as ownership. Block data shows pools, not owners. The machines behind a pool's 26.2% share belong to many miners who can switch pools in minutes, and pool operators know it — a pool that censors transactions or behaves badly risks losing its miners overnight. Concentration in block production is real, but it is rented, not owned.
The second misunderstanding is what a 51% attack can actually do. An attacker controlling a majority of hash rate could reverse its own recent payments and hold back other people's transactions, but it could not spend coins it has no keys for, create coins beyond the fixed supply schedule, or rewrite the rules of the network. Ethereum Classic suffered a dozen such double-spends in January 2019, worth 219,500 ETC — a reminder that the risk is real for smaller chains, but also that the damage has hard limits.
The third misunderstanding is that falling hash rate means a weaker Bitcoin. Hash rate falls when machines switch off, usually because mining stopped paying, power got scarce, or a government intervened. A US winter storm in late January 2026 knocked about 200 EH/s offline, and the seven-day average fell from 1,042 EH/s on January 24 to 826 EH/s on January 31. Average block times stretched to about 12.4 minutes — and then difficulty adjusted downward, by 11.16% at block 935,424 on February 7, and the network carried on. Difficulty fell 19.9% from its October 2025 record of 155.97 trillion to 124.93 trillion on June 14, 2026 while the bitcoin price more than halved, and it has since climbed back to 148.36 trillion. The system self-corrects; that is the design.
What a dominant pool can and cannot do
| Power | Can a pool do it? | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Choose which transactions enter its blocks | Yes | Pool operators build the block template; this is the real centralization risk |
| Delay or exclude specific transactions | Temporarily, if it holds enough share | Other pools still confirm them; exclusion only bites if a majority cooperates |
| Reverse its own recent payments | Only with majority hash rate | Requires sustained 51% control, which is expensive and visible |
| Steal coins from other people's wallets | No | Spending requires private keys; hash rate cannot forge signatures |
| Create extra bitcoin beyond the supply schedule | No | Other nodes reject invalid blocks; issuance stays near 450 BTC a day |
| Seize miners' machines or force them to stay | No | Miners point their hashrate elsewhere in minutes; pool share is rented |
The honest summary: pool concentration is a genuine governance and censorship risk, not an existential theft risk. The danger scenario is not a pool stealing your bitcoin — it is several large pools quietly agreeing to exclude certain transactions, or a government leaning on two or three pool operators instead of thousands of miners. That is a much narrower threat than the headlines suggest, but it is not imaginary.
Why concentration is rising right now
Three forces are pushing miners toward the biggest pools at the same time. First, difficulty is near its highs: 148.36 trillion means each terahash earns fewer coins per day than it did a year ago, and only miners with cheap power and efficient machines stay profitable. Second, the bitcoin price has fallen for four straight weeks to around $77,000, squeezing revenue in dollar terms while costs stay fixed. Third, fee revenue has collapsed as a share of miner income — on November 1, 2026, block 974,157 paid its miner 3.141 BTC, of which fees were just 0.016 BTC, about 0.45% of revenue. When fees are negligible, the subsidy is everything, and steady pool payouts beat solo lottery tickets.
The October numbers capture the tension: record total revenue of $1.215 billion alongside a 17.54% drop in hashprice. Big, efficient operations absorb that squeeze. Small ones either join a large pool, switch off, or sell their machines to someone bigger. November could see weaker miners exit if prices decline further, which would show up as a difficulty decrease at the next adjustment — the network's automatic relief valve.
There is also a structural reason concentration persists: running a competitive pool is itself a scale business. Low orphan rates, fast block propagation and reliable payouts favor large, well-connected operations. New pools can and do emerge, but breaking into the top tier requires miners to trust a new operator with their daily income — a slow process in a thin-margin business.
What would actually fix it
The most discussed technical fix is giving individual miners control of block construction while keeping pooled payouts — the idea behind Stratum V2, which lets miners build their own block templates instead of accepting the pool operator's. If widely adopted, pool share would stop meaning transaction-selection power at all: pools would become payment coordinators, and the 63.3% number would lose most of its sting. Adoption, however, has been slow, because it requires miners to run their own node and template software — extra work for operators already running on thin margins.
The market fix is simpler and already works: miners switch. Pool dominance has risen and fallen before, and miners have repeatedly abandoned pools that censored transactions or charged too much. The credible threat of exit is the real check on pool power, and it is why the distinction between pool share and ownership matters so much. A pool that abuses its position destroys its own business.
For ordinary holders, the practical takeaway is different from the mining debate. Your coins are not held by miners or pools at all — they are secured by your own keys. The wave of exchange withdrawals since the $6.3 billion Binance hack, including $4.72 billion pulled from Binance in two days, is a reminder that custody risk sits with exchanges, not with mining pools. If you hold bitcoin long-term, keeping it in your own wallet matters far more than which pool found the last block. Our guide to storing crypto safely with cold storage and seed phrases covers the setup step by step.
What it means for the bitcoin price
Mining concentration rarely moves the price directly, but it shapes the floor. When hashprice falls 17.54% in a month and difficulty sits at 148.36 trillion, high-cost miners become forced sellers or shut down — both of which feed the weak-handed selling that has kept bitcoin near $77,000. Conversely, a difficulty decrease at the November 12 adjustment would signal capitulation easing, historically a constructive sign for miners' margins. Traders are watching the same levels as everyone else: holding $76,000–$76,600 support, or reclaiming $79,500–$80,500 resistance, with Friday's jobs report as the next macro trigger.
The deeper point is that Bitcoin's security budget is holding up. The network pays miners about 450 BTC a day, hash rate is above 1,000 EH/s, and the cost of attacking the chain rises with every exahash added. Concentration in block production is a governance flaw to fix, not a security failure — and the fix, whether technical or market-driven, does not require trusting anyone new.
FAQs
Do 3 mining pools really control 63% of Bitcoin?
They found 63.3% of blocks in the month to November 2, 2026, with the largest pool at 26.2%. But the machines belong to independent miners who can switch pools, so pool share measures coordination power, not ownership.
Can a mining pool steal my bitcoin?
No. Spending bitcoin requires the owner's private key, and hash rate cannot forge a signature. A majority attacker could reverse its own payments or delay transactions, but it cannot take coins it does not own.
What is hashprice and why did it fall 17.54%?
Hashprice is the revenue earned per unit of computing power. It fell in October because network hashrate above 1,080 EH/s intensified competition, even as total miner revenue hit $1.215 billion, the best month since November 2025.
Is Bitcoin still decentralized?
Partially. No single entity controls the network, the supply schedule, or your coins, but block construction is concentrated in a few pools. That is a real censorship risk and the main decentralization flaw to watch.
What is the next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment?
Expected around November 12, 2026, currently projected to edge slightly lower after the 5.54% rise to 148.36 trillion on October 29. A decrease would ease pressure on high-cost miners.
Should I worry about mining pools as a bitcoin holder?
Less than about custody. Pool concentration is worth monitoring, but your bigger risks are exchange custody, scams, and your own key management. Keep long-term holdings in self-custody and treat pool headlines as a governance signal, not a sell signal.
Conclusion
The 63.3% number deserves attention but not panic. Bitcoin's block production is concentrated in three pools, and that concentration is rising because thin margins push miners toward the steadiest payouts. But pool power is rented, miners can leave, and the worst-case attack cannot steal your coins or print new ones. Watch two things instead of the headline: whether miners start building their own block templates, and whether the November 12 difficulty adjustment brings relief to high-cost miners. If either moves in the right direction, Bitcoin's decentralization story gets stronger — not weaker — from here. For background on how the whole system fits together, read our guides on how Bitcoin mining works and whether Bitcoin mining is profitable in 2026, and check the latest market action in our coverage of Bitcoin steadying near $76,900 as ETF outflows continue. External data in this article comes from hash rate estimates for November 2, 2026, October miner revenue and hashprice data, and live Bitcoin difficulty figures.
