Bitcoin mining is looking less like a wide-open competition and more like a tight club. A CryptoSlate partner article published on 07/08/2026, citing miningpoolstats.stream data as of 06/23/2026, says Foundry Digital, AntPool, ViaBTC, and F2Pool together account for more than 70% of the network’s hashrate. The shift is fueling what the coverage calls a “two-tier market,” with the biggest pools increasingly tuned for institutional clients while independents and mid-size operators get squeezed. Some smaller miners are already quietly reconsidering where they point their machines, especially as ViaBTC faces added regulatory scrutiny in 2026.

Bitcoin mining is often talked about like a wide-open frontier, but mid-2026 looks more like a handful of toll roads. A July 8, 2026 CryptoSlate article (partner content) points to a June 23, 2026 snapshot showing just a few pools taking an outsized role in where blocks get made, and what kind of miners get served best.

The rise of four dominant players in Bitcoin mining

As of that June 23 snapshot, four pools controlled more than 70% of Bitcoin’s hashrate: Foundry Digital, AntPool, ViaBTC, and F2Pool. The estimated split was stark: Foundry at 31%, AntPool at 18%, ViaBTC at 13%, and F2Pool at 10%, per 31%, 18%, 13%, 10% figures cited in the coverage.

One detail that matters for US operators is that Foundry is US-based and backed by Digital Currency Group. The pool is described as being built primarily for large-scale, institutional operators and publicly traded mining companies, with strict KYC requirements baked into how it onboards clients.

A two-tier market takes shape

CryptoSlate frames the concentration as a “two-tier market,” where the biggest pools increasingly optimize for institutional miners. That kind of optimization is usually invisible until you are the one fighting for responsiveness, predictable payouts, or account support, and it is why independent and mid-size miners are described as quietly rethinking where they point their machines.

The key shift is less about any single pool’s branding and more about what scale buys you. When a pool’s business is tuned for fleets and compliance-heavy customers, smaller miners can end up feeling like edge cases instead of the core product.

Scrutiny, switching costs, and the search for alternatives

ViaBTC, which held 13% in the mid-2026 share estimates, has faced increasing regulatory scrutiny this year that has particularly affected miners tied to Russia and other CIS countries. The reporting describes account restrictions, sudden KYC demands, and temporary fund freezes, the kind of friction that can make even loyal miners reconsider their setup.

In the same coverage, EMCD is positioned as an alternative: it claims over 30 EH/s of hashrate, with fees starting at 1.5% under FPPS, compared with roughly 4% charged by many comparable pools. EMCD was founded in 2017 and made its first pool available in February 2018.

What centralization looks like in the metrics

In D-Central’s H1 2026 snapshot (data as of June 19, 2026), Bitcoin mining pools had a Nakamoto coefficient of 3, meaning only 3 pools were needed to exceed half of all blocks mined, with Foundry USA at roughly 27% of blocks, per Nakamoto coefficient data.

And the leaderboard keeps moving. In the latest 7-day window posted on July 16, 2026, Simple Mining’s rankings list Foundry USA at 27.0%, with F2Pool and AntPool both at 17.2%, ViaBTC at 9.5%, and SpiderPool at 5.5%.

Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has identified a malware framework called OkoBot that targets crypto users by stealing wallet seed phrases, credentials and other sensitive data through a collection of more than 20 malicious components.

The campaign, first identified in January 2026, has compromised hundreds of victims across more than 25 countries, with Brazil, Vietnam, Canada, Mexico and Türkiye among the most affected.

During the investigation, researchers found that attackers distribute the malware through ClickFix social engineering schemes and fake software downloads hosted on GitHub, allowing the framework to infect devices and deploy additional malware, including the Rilide browser stealer.

The framework consists of more than 20 payloads capable of stealing crypto wallets, harvesting credentials, recording video, downloading malicious browser extensions and executing remote commands.

Among OkoBot’s components are TookPS, which exfiltrates wallet seed phrases, OkoSpyware, which monitors Chromium-based browsers and records user activity, and SeedHunter, which injects malicious code into Trezor and Ledger wallet software to display phishing pages requesting recovery phrases.

Kaspersky said the campaign is still active and while its operators have not been identified, its techniques and code artifacts suggest links to Russian-speaking cybercriminals.

Mastercard and Visa ‘Absent’ from Russia as Cards Reach Expiration

As local options rise, the Russian card market is being increasingly driven by Mir alternatives after Mastercard and Visa, the two international credit giants, exited the country amid a sanctions push.

Dmitry Dubynin, CEO of the National Payment Card System (NSPK), stressed that international cards were absent from the Russian market, with local alternatives retaking almost all of the credit card market share.

“I would even say that Visa and Mastercard cards are effectively absent from the Russian market. Their cards no longer provide any value: they do not work abroad, there is no access to the loyalty programs of these payment systems, and so on,” said Dubynin in an interview with Expert magazine.

Dubynin compared these leftover cards to pieces of plastic bearing the logos of international companies that no longer operate in Russia, stressing that local support kept them operating.

He commented that eventually, these cards will fail as they endure wear and tear and their security certificates expire. Nonetheless, the NSPK is implementing measures to ensure its continued operation even under these circumstances.

“The share of cards issued by international payment systems continues to decline naturally. Today, nearly 85% of the market is accounted for by Mir cards, and that share will undoubtedly continue to grow,” Dubynin assessed.

Earlier statements by Alla Bakina, Director of the Bank of Russia’s National Payment System Department, who invited Visa and Mastercard to leave the country completely due to the lack of functionality of their cards, raised concerns among the population that still relied on these solutions.

Nonetheless, on July 2, central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina disclosed that there would be no timeframes for their withdrawal, indicating that they would be phased out gradually.