Crypto Gloss

Antpool

Antpool is one of the world’s largest and most influential Bitcoin mining pools, operated by Bitmain Technologies — the dominant manufacturer of Bitcoin ASIC mining hardware (Antminer series). Founded in 2014, Antpool has consistently been a top-2 or top-3 Bitcoin mining pool by hash rate, typically controlling 10–20% of global Bitcoin hash rate — making it one of the most powerful single entities in Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus system.

Background

Antpool was created as a natural extension of Bitmain’s hardware dominance. By routing Bitmain’s own large mining farm outputs through Antpool — in addition to fees from external miners — Bitmain could earn both hardware profits and pool operator fees. This vertical integration gave Bitmain extraordinary influence over Bitcoin’s block production.

Bitmain was founded by Jihan Wu and Micree Zhan in 2013. Their partnership and eventual public conflict (culminating in a legal dispute in 2019–2020) created uncertainty about Antpool’s governance and Bitmain’s leadership.

Influence on Bitcoin Forks

Antpool and Bitmain’s hash rate was a pivotal factor in Bitcoin’s hard fork debates:

  • SegWit activation (2017) — Bitmain initially opposed SegWit (Segregated Witness) in part because it would reduce mining margin from transaction malleability exploits. Antpool’s hash rate was a major point of leverage in the Segwit2x debate.
  • Bitcoin Cash (BCH) — Jihan Wu was an outspoken supporter of Bitcoin Cash and directed significant Antpool hash rate to mine BCH following the August 2017 fork.
  • Hash wars (2018) — Antpool and Bitcoin.com (Roger Ver’s pool) engaged in a costly “hash war” between Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) when Craig Wright attempted to hard fork BCH.

Post-China Ban Operations

Following China’s 2021 mining ban, Antpool (like F2Pool and AntPool) adapted to serve international miners, though Bitmain’s physical operations moved significantly to the Middle East and other jurisdictions. Antpool continues to operate globally despite Bitmain’s Chinese origins.

Social Media Sentiment

Antpool is frequently discussed in the context of Bitcoin’s mining centralization concerns. Bitcoin maximalists on X/Twitter and r/Bitcoin flag Antpool’s historically large hash rate share as a centralization risk. The pool’s role in supporting contentious Bitcoin forks (BCH in 2017, BSV) created lasting suspicion among Bitcoin Core supporters. Arguments about Bitmain and Antpool’s influence on Bitcoin’s development process recur whenever contentious protocol changes are debated. Generally viewed as competent but politically controversial within the Bitcoin community.

Last updated: 2026-04

Related Terms

Sources