Foundry USA becomes second-largest Bitcoin mining pool
New York city’s crypto-mining service provider Foundry USA has taken the lead in becoming the world’s second-largest Bitcoin mining pool after registering a 15.42 per cent share of the network.
According to data on BTC.com, the Digital Currency Group-owned Foundry USA currently stands behind the pool leader AntPool by a hash rate of 4000 PH/s, which contributed to a 17.76 per cent network share at the time of this news publication.
The rise in the participation of US entities can be attributed to the recent Chinese blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining activities. The ban forced a massive migration of local Bitcoin miners, who have now moved to crypto-friendly jurisdictions, including Russia, the United States and Kazakhstan.
Among the top five mining pools in terms of hash rate distribution, Foundry USA has been known to charge the highest average transaction fees of 0.09418116 BTC (about $5,500) per block. US businesses have also picked up Chinese slack in terms of crypto ATM distribution.
Coin ATM Radar has data that shows Georgia-based Bitcoin Depot has reportedly overtaken its Chinese counterparts in becoming the world’s biggest crypto ATM operator. A majority of the crypto ATM operators are run by US companies, a trend that is more prominent after the Chinese proactive ban on crypto activities.
Despite their clear intent of pursuing an in-house central bank digital currency (CBDC), the Chinese Communist Party has sought a proper public opinion on the Bitcoin mining ban imposed on October 21. The ban sparked conversations around the amendment of the government’s negative stance on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining activities.
However, data from Statista confirms that China’s contribution to the Bitcoin mining hash rate has been declining since September 2019. Twenty years back, China represented over 75 per cent of Bitcoin’s mining hash rate, which had reduced to 46 per cent by April 2021.
As the United States is steadily moving towards Bitcoin’s mainstream adoption, the regulators are seeking clarity in relation to the new reporting requirements put forward by the Biden administration.
Members of the Republic and Democratic party have appealed at various occasions that the crypto tax reporting needs amendment along with redefining the term “broker” in crypto transactions.
Starting from 2024, the bipartisan infrastructure bill would require the general public to declare digital asset transactions that are worth more than $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
At present, “brokers” in the bill imply miners and validators, protocol developers and hardware and software developers.
