Binance announced it will shut down its bitcoin mining pool and related services on November 10, giving miners approximately four weeks to redirect their computing power to alternative providers.
The pool's hashrate has declined substantially since December, falling from 26 exahashes per second—representing 2.3% of Bitcoin's total network—to approximately 9.2 exahashes per second, a drop of roughly 65%. The pool currently ranks 11th among mining providers, accounting for less than 1% of network computing power.
Binance stated the closure follows an ongoing review of its products and services. The exchange did not provide a financial explanation for the decision. Miners must complete identity verification and settle accounts by the November 10 cutoff at 7 a.m. UTC, with pool pages disappearing permanently on November 24.
Industry Consolidation Concerns
The closure adds to a trend of mining pool exits. SBI Crypto shut its pool in July after accounting for roughly 2% of Bitcoin's hashrate, and crypto exchange OKX ended mining pool services in February 2024. Additionally, Poolin filed for bankruptcy in July, having once been the largest pool.
Binance Pool's departure concentrates block production further among remaining operators. Foundry USA, AntPool, and F2Pool currently control approximately 64.2% of the network's combined computing power. If all of Binance's remaining hashrate migrates to these three largest pools and network conditions remain unchanged, their combined share could reach roughly 65%.
Pool operators select which transactions their machines work to confirm, giving them influence over block production. However, miners can redirect hardware to smaller providers, and pool shares do not establish hardware ownership.
