Bitcoin Mining Pools: How They Work and Where Miners Are Today

When you hear about Bitcoin mining pools, groups of miners who combine their computing power to increase their chances of earning Bitcoin rewards. Also known as mining pools, they’re the backbone of how Bitcoin stays secure and distributed—not by lone miners, but by organized teams working together. Without them, most people couldn’t mine Bitcoin profitably. The network’s total computing power, called the hash rate, the combined processing power of all miners securing the Bitcoin network, is what stops bad actors from rewriting history or double-spending coins. And that hash rate doesn’t come from one country or one company—it’s spread across the globe, mostly in places with cheap electricity and stable rules.

Today, the U.S. controls about 44% of the global Bitcoin hash rate, thanks to large-scale operations in Texas, Georgia, and Kentucky. But it’s not just about location—it’s about infrastructure. Mining pools like Foundry USA, F2Pool, and AntPool don’t just run machines; they manage software, payouts, and uptime for thousands of individual miners. These pools take a small fee, then distribute Bitcoin rewards based on how much computing power each miner contributed. It’s like a lottery where you buy more tickets by adding more hardware. The bigger your share of the pool, the more often you get paid—even if it’s just a fraction of a Bitcoin each time.

But here’s the thing: when too much mining power concentrates in one pool, the network gets riskier. If a single pool controls over 50% of the hash rate, it could theoretically manipulate transactions. That’s why the Bitcoin network thrives when mining is spread out—across countries, companies, and hardware types. That’s why data from 2025 shows mining power isn’t just in the U.S. It’s also in Kazakhstan, Canada, Russia, and even parts of the Middle East where energy is cheap and regulations are clear. The Bitcoin network security, the resilience of the blockchain against attacks through distributed mining power depends on this balance. Too much centralization? That’s a red flag. Too little mining? The network slows down and becomes vulnerable.

What you’ll find in the posts below isn’t just theory—it’s real data. You’ll see where mining power is actually located, how regulations in Russia and the U.S. are changing who can mine, and how the hash rate distribution affects everything from price to decentralization. Some posts break down the biggest pools. Others show you how miners in different countries adapt to power cuts or tax laws. There’s no fluff here—just facts about who’s running the machines, where they’re plugged in, and why it all matters for Bitcoin’s future.