Bitcoin mining pool once handling 2.3% of network shuts after hashrate falls 65%

Miners have about four weeks to direct their machines elsewhere. After the cutoff, Binance will stop crediting mining shares, the records of work used to calculate payouts. Pool Savings users must redeem their positions, while anyone awaiting a final payout should complete required identity checks by 11:59 p.m. UTC that day.

Pool pages will disappear permanently on Nov. 24, giving customers another two weeks to download records and check payout status.

Four years ago, Binance was offering to finance miners’ expansion. In October 2022, it announced a $500 million lending program through the pool, offering secured loans for 18 to 24 months at interest rates of 5% to 10%. The closure notice does not address that program or disclose any outstanding loan balance.

Fewer pools to choose from

Binance follows SBI Crypto, which shut its pool on July 31 after accounting for roughly 2% of Bitcoin’s computing power. Crypto exchange OKX ended its mining pool services in February 2024.

Hashrate Index’s December report described Binance Pool as the last surviving pool from the period when exchanges expanded into mining.

Poolin, once the largest pool with nearly a fifth of global hashrate, also filed for bankruptcy in July owing about $173 million. Its troubles involved frozen wallet funds and stalled Texas mining sites, and its pool share had already been near zero for years.