Bitcoin’s (BTC) claim to decentralization is under scrutiny after two mining pools, Foundry USA and AntPool, accumulated a combined 51.6% of the network’s hashrate. 

The development has raised concerns about the possibility of a “51% attack,” in which a small group of operators could theoretically rewrite transactions, censor activity, or attempt a chain takeover. Bitcoin’s price continued to trade at around $113,300 in early morning trade on Thursday, down 0.4% over the last 24 hours. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency trended in ‘bearish’ territory. 

Data compiled by WhaleWire on X shows Foundry USA with 33.63% of the network’s computing power and AntPool with 17.94%. The last comparable episode occurred in 2014, when GHash.io briefly crossed the 50% threshold. That event prompted widespread panic, forced GHash to reduce its share voluntarily, and preceded a steep decline in Bitcoin’s price.

Some industry participants have argued the threat may be overstated. They say that executing a 51% attack would be too expensive given the energy, hardware, and infrastructure requirements. Moreover, it would directly damage the miners’ holdings. “The perception of vulnerability, however, is enough to influence sentiment,” said one market analyst, pointing to parallels with Dogecoin, which dropped sharply after facing similar concerns.

The concentration of mining power also reopens the debate about Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. While the system has secured the network for more than a decade, the industrial scale of mining has fueled centralization pressures. Alternatives such as proof-of-stake (PoS) are frequently cited as more resistant to concentration. However, Bitcoin’s resistance to protocol changes makes it unlikely that it will shift to a PoS framework.

Bitcoin recently hit a record high of more than $124,000, but has fallen more than 8% since. The apex cryptocurrency has nearly doubled in value over the past 12 months.

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