Does Bitcoin Mining Need Better Decentralization for Small Miners #35299

issue tunko07 opened this issue on May 15, 2026
  1. tunko07 commented at 11:08 PM on May 15, 2026: none

    This is not a bug report.

    I would like to start a constructive discussion about small miners, decentralization, and the future of Bitcoin mining.

    Today, Bitcoin mining is increasingly dominated by large mining farms, industrial operations, and investors with massive budgets. Small miners and hobby miners are becoming less common every year.

    Large operations can:

    • Buy thousands of ASIC miners
    • Access cheaper electricity
    • Operate industrial-scale mining farms
    • Control very large amounts of hash power

    Meanwhile, small miners using devices like Bitaxe, a few ASICs, or home mining setups face extremely difficult conditions.

    I understand that Bitcoin mining is based on competition and economics. However, I also wonder whether excessive concentration of mining power could weaken decentralization over time.

    Some questions I think are worth discussing:

    • How can small miners remain part of the Bitcoin ecosystem in the future?
    • Could mining become too centralized around large corporations?
    • Would encouraging small-scale mining strengthen decentralization?
    • Are there technical or community-based ideas that could help smaller miners participate?

    I am not asking for free rewards or artificial advantages.

    I simply believe that keeping participation open to ordinary people is important for the long-term spirit of Bitcoin.

    What do you think?

  2. achow101 commented at 11:16 PM on May 15, 2026: member

    Usually the issue tracker is used to track technical issues related to the Bitcoin Core code base.

    General bitcoin questions and/or support requests are best directed to the Bitcoin StackExchange or the #bitcoin IRC channel on Libera Chat, or one of the Bitcoin subreddits, or any other place that you feel is well suited.

    Network-wide consensus and/or P2P changes first need to be discussed with the greater ecosystem, for example https://groups.google.com/g/bitcoindev, or https://delvingbitcoin.org/. Also, they need a BIP to be implemented in Bitcoin Core and other software that connects to the bitcoin P2P network.The issue tracker is used to track technical issues related to the Bitcoin Core code base. Network-wide consensus and/or P2P changes first need to be discussed with the greater community, e.g. the bitcoin-dev mailing list. Also, they need a BIP to be implemented in Bitcoin Core and other software that connects to the bitcoin P2P network.

  3. achow101 closed this on May 15, 2026

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