WillItSurvive
Crypto and digital asset companies · China

F2Pool

f2pool.com ↗

13-year-old Bitcoin mining pool, one of the top few by hashrate share.

Losing its protection
Assessed 25 July 2026 · Evidence as of 25 July 2026
The structural protection is eroding.
On the recordSince 25 July 2026 · Checkable from ~May 2028 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: Founder Chun Wang's return from a ~2-year SpaceX Mars mission leave
The call

F2Pool keeps running on reputation and reach while larger, better-backed pools like Foundry pull ahead and its founder steps away for two years.

F2Pool is a mining pool where people combine computing power to mine Bitcoin together; it's been around for 13 years and makes money from fees. The main reason it's hard to replace is its reputation and experience, but Foundry USA Pool is much bigger (27-34% of the market) and has more resources because it's backed by a major company, so F2Pool is slowly losing ground. The biggest wild card is whether the founder, Chun Wang, can keep the business running smoothly while spending about two years away at SpaceX starting in 2026, and whether miners will stick around or move to competitors.

Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI has no direct role in Bitcoin hashrate allocation; mining pools compete on fees, payout speed, and trust, not algorithms. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Foundry USA Pool (backed by Digital Currency Group). Foundry runs a live, larger pool with deep-pocketed backing, pulling ahead of F2Pool in hashrate share. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. 13 years of uptime, 500,000+ accounts across 100+ countries, and multi-coin support keep miners from switching easily.
What would change this call
F2Pool's BTC hashrate share reading falls below roughly 7% in tracker data (HashrateIndex, D-Central). Would show accelerating share loss to Foundry USA and AntPool, weakening its position.
F2Pool ships live Stratum V2 job-negotiation support in production. Would show it closing a technical gap versus Braiins and Foundry rather than falling behind.
Operational or payout disruptions reported at F2Pool between May 2026 and May 2028. Would show founder Chun Wang's SpaceX absence hurt continuity, risking further customer loss.
Key numbers
  • Founded April 2013 by Chun Wang and Mao Shixing (2020-12-09)
  • Charges 2-4% fees on BTC, 1-4% on other coins (2026-07-06)
  • Sister venture Stake.fish manages over $3B staked (2026-05-23)
Named risks
  • Founder Chun Wang on ~2-year SpaceX leave from May 2026, operational continuity untested. Severity: high
  • Hashrate share estimates fluctuate 9-17% amid pressure from Foundry and AntPool. Severity: medium
  • Delayed live Stratum V2 deployment versus rivals like Braiins could erode trust positioning. Severity: medium
  • Asia-founded pool could face KYC/regulatory scrutiny similar to ViaBTC's 2026 issues. Severity: medium
  • OP_RETURN large-payload mining ties F2Pool to ongoing Bitcoin Core policy controversy. Severity: low
Rivals, as read in July 2026
RivalDirectionEvidence
Foundry USA Poollosing toFoundry holds 27-34% share vs F2Pool's 9-17%, as of 2026-07-20
AntPoollosing toBitmain-backed AntPool at 15-19% share with hardware flywheel, 2026-07-10
ViaBTCcontestingSimilar 9-13% share range but ViaBTC faces KYC scrutiny in 2026
SpiderPoolcontestingSpiderPool launched NAT reward mechanism days before F2Pool's copy in April 2026
Braiins Poollosing toBraiins leads live Stratum V2 deployment; F2Pool not yet live as of 2026-07-16
Questions people ask
Is F2Pool profitable?
F2Pool discloses no audited revenue, but it is self-funded from pool fees (4% FPPS or 2% PPLNS on BTC, per its help center as of 2026-07-06) since its 2013 founding, with no external equity funding found, implying it runs on internally generated cash flow.
What is F2Pool's current Bitcoin hashrate share?
Estimates vary by tracker: HashrateIndex puts F2Pool at 16.63%, D-Central's H1 2026 tracker (2026-06-18) at 13.34% and ranked 3rd, Bitcoin.com News (2026-05-23) at 11.32%, and TFTC (2026-06-23) at about 10%.
Who founded F2Pool and when?
F2Pool was founded in April 2013 in Wenzhou, China, by Chun Wang and Mao Shixing (online alias Shenyu), making it one of the oldest Bitcoin mining pools, per an F2Pool retrospective published 2020-12-09.
Is F2Pool safe to mine with right now?
F2Pool holds SOC 2 Type II certification (announced 2023-12-26) and Kazakhstan market accreditation (2023-12-21), but co-founder Chun Wang began a roughly two-year leave in May 2026 to command a SpaceX Mars mission, raising operational continuity questions.
Who is F2Pool's biggest competitor?
Foundry USA Pool is F2Pool's biggest rival, holding roughly 27-34% of BTC hashrate as of a 2026-07-20 TFTC snapshot versus F2Pool's 9-17% range, and is backed by Digital Currency Group with a US regulatory footing F2Pool lacks.
Could AI replace F2Pool's business?
Unlikely directly: F2Pool's core function, block-template construction and payout accounting, is deterministic infrastructure software, not an AI-displaceable task. The bigger threat is protocol decentralization via Stratum V2, not AI, per a 2026-07-12 mining glossary analysis.
Timeline
  • 2026-07-16Cointelegraph reports F2Pool's Stratum V2 production support not yet live
  • 2026-07-06F2Pool fee structure documented: 4% FPPS/2% PPLNS on BTC, 1-4% other coins
  • 2026-06-23TFTC snapshot: four pools including F2Pool hold over 70% of BTC hashrate
  • 2026-06-18D-Central tracker: F2Pool at 13.34% of blocks, ranked 3rd for H1 2026
  • 2026-05-23Bitcoin.com News reports F2Pool hashrate at 11.32%, founder stepping away
  • 2026-05-21Chun Wang named SpaceX Mars flyby Mission Commander, begins ~2-year leave
  • 2026-05-07F2Pool joins Stratum V2 Working Group with Foundry, AntPool, SpiderPool
  • 2026-04-27F2Pool launches DMT-NAT dual-layer bonus reward mechanism
  • 2023-12-26F2Pool announces SOC 2 Type II certification for mining services
  • 2013-04F2Pool founded in Wenzhou, China by Chun Wang and Mao Shixing
Revision history
25 July 2026
First assessed. Losing its protection. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
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