RT Journal Article T1 Breve análisis de la concentración de la potencia de minado en Bitcoin T2 A brief analysis of the concentration of Bitcoin mining power A1 Llases, Luis AB Bitcoin es una red informática descentralizada que permite el envío de valor entre sus usuarios. Para ello se utiliza una unidad de cuenta intercambiable y fraccionable denominada bitcoin. La característica principal de este sistema es que no necesita de una unidad central que lo administre, funciona mediante un sistema de incentivos que asegura que una serie de usuarios denominados mineros actúen de tal manera que las transacciones puedan realizarse de forma segura. Básicamente, estos mineros compiten entre ellos por añadir nuevas transacciones al libro contable, para lo que deben resolver un problema matemático establecido por el sistema. Para hacerlo deben consumir una serie de recursos (hardware informático, electricidad, etc.) con los que generan una potencia de procesamiento con que resolver el problema matemático. Como pago por el gasto que realizan los mineros reciben una recompensa en forma de nuevos bitcoins minados y de comisiones de los usuarios.Es condición necesaria para que la red sea segura el que la actividad minera permanezca descentralizada. Sin embargo, en los últimos años se ha observado un aumento de la concentración de la potencia de procesamiento. Dada la importancia de esta cuestión para la criptomoneda, este trabajo ha tratado de entender cuáles han sido las razones de la concentración y si pueden considerarse como tendencias que seguirán operando a largo plazo. El trabajo concluye que la reducción de las recompensas de los mineros y las economías de escala han sido las principales causantes de la concentración y que al menos la primera de dichas causas seguirá operando en el largo plazo. AB Bitcoin is a decentralized computer network that allows the sending of value among its users. For this, an interchangeable and fractionable account unit called bitcoin is used. The main characteristic of this system is that it does not need a central unit to administer it, it works through an incentive system that ensures that a series of users called miners act in such a way that transactions can be carried out safely. Basically, these miners compete with each other to add new transactions to the ledger, for which they must solve a mathematical problem established by the system. To do so, they must consume some resources (computer hardware, electricity, etc.) with which they generate a processing power to solve the mathematical problem. As payment for the expense that the miners make, they receive a reward in the form of new mined bitcoins and users’ commissions.It is a necessary condition for the network to be secure that the mining activity remains decentralized. However, recent years have seen an increase in the concentration of processing power. Given the importance of this issue for cryptocurrency, this work has tried to understand what the reasons for the concentration have been and if they can be considered as trends that will continue to operate in the long term. The study concludes that the reduction in miners’ rewards and economies of scale have been the main causes of concentration and that at least the first of these causes will continue to operate in the long term. PB Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI) SN 1989-5917 YR 2021 FD 2021 LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7318 UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7318 LA spa NO Antonopoulos, A.M., 2014. Mastering Bitcoin: unlocking digital cryptocurrencies. O’Reilly Media, Inc.Arnosti, N., Weinberg, S.M., 2018. Bitcoin: A natural oligopoly. ArXiv Prepr. ArXiv181108572.Badev, A., Chen, M., 2014. 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