According to Cryptoslate, Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr has raised concerns about the finality of Bitcoin transactions, stating that the widely accepted six block confirmation rule is no longer applicable. According to him, the finalization of transactions now takes over a week, which raises questions about Bitcoin's ability to resist censorship. Dashjr believes that due to the increasing centralization of Bitcoin mining pools, traditional standards are no longer applicable. He explained that he attempted to update the six block confirmation target in Bitcoin Knots, an alternative to Bitcoin Core. However, his calculations indicate that due to Antpool's significant share in the network hash rate, achieving 95% security now requires over 800 blocks - equivalent to approximately 5.5 days.
According to HashRate Index data, Antpool controls approximately 16.67% of the total hash rate of Bitcoin, lagging behind Foundry USA's 33.12%. Other major mining pools include F2Pool (8.87%), MARA Pool (6.06%), and SecPool (5.19%). However, Dashjr disputes these numbers, claiming that several mining pools such as Braiins and ViaBTC acted as proxies for Antpool, making its influence even greater. He also pointed out that many miners operate under centralized mining pools, unknowingly fueling potential network restructuring. Industry experts have also expressed similar concerns, warning that the increasing dominance of a few mining pools poses a potential risk of censorship and even 51% attacks on Bitcoin. Bob Burnett, CEO of Barefoot Mining, stated that if a single entity controls a significant portion of the network's hash rate, it can manipulate the blockchain by restructuring transactions.
At the same time, not everyone agrees that this issue is as serious as Dashjr claims. Daniel Roberts, co-founder of Iris Energy Ltd, downplayed these concerns, stating that Bitcoin's design allows it to self regulate over time. Roberts added, "Bitcoin may not be perfect, and we should continue to try to improve it, but such problems are usually self correcting or intentionally designed