Three Countries, 68% of the Pie: The Great Hashrate Land Grab of Q1 2026

Bitcoin hashrate remained dominated by three powerhouses in Q1 2026. The United States, Russia, and China collectively controlled approximately 68% of the recorded global Bitcoin hashrate, according to a report from CoinShares. If this were a heist movie, these three would be the ones walking away with the gold while everyone else fights over the getaway bicycle.

The breakdown: USA claimed 38%, Russia took 17%, and China rounded out the trio with 13% of global mining power between January and March. America's 38% means Uncle Sam is essentially running the world's largest Bitcoin mining operation while pretending to file his taxes on time.

Quarter-over-quarter, the US gained roughly 2% of global hashrate. Russia added nearly as much, while China's market share slipped by about 3%. China basically rage-quit hashrate percentage points like a gamer on a losing streak, except instead of throwing a controller, they're just doing everything underground.

Three new entrants—Paraguay, Ethiopia, and Oman—joined the hashrate race as of March. They showed up fashionably late to the hashrate party like people who RSVP'd "maybe" but decided to come anyway with snacks.

Regulatory clarity seems to be the name of the game. In the US, institutional miners led by Mara Holdings have ramped up capital for BTC operations under President Trump. Earlier this week, Senators including Cynthia Lummis introduced the Mined in America Act, aiming to provide clearer legal framework for domestic mining. Nothing says "we take Bitcoin seriously" like a congressional bill with "mined" in the title and a presidential tweet somewhere in the middle.

Russia's government unveiled stricter crypto mining rules, including a bill to the State Duma that would criminalize unauthorized mining operations. Basically, Russia said "you can mine, but do it our way or we're sending you to a data center that doesn't have WiFi."

Meanwhile, China maintained its comprehensive ban on cryptocurrency activities—prohibiting trading, issuance, and mining—meaning most of its BTC mining occurs underground. Think of it as crypto's version of prohibition, except the speakeasies are warehouses full of ASICs and the bathtub gin is Bitcoin.