Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Surges to New All-Time High as Hash Rate Reaches a Record High
Bitcoin mining difficulty hits a new all-time of 95.7 trillion, reflecting a 3.9% increase. The Bitcoin hash rate level has also climbed to a record seven-day moving average of almost 724 EH/s.
Amid the rising difficulty, US-based public BTC miners remain dominant, controlling almost 30% of the global Bitcoin hash rate.
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits a New ATH
Bitcoin mining difficulty surged to a new all-time high of 95.7 trillion, according to data from blockchain explorer Mempool. This figure represents a 3.9% increase from its 92.7 trillion value in early September.
The data revealed that the Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment occurred at block height 866,880. Before Tuesday’s adjustment, the mining of Bitcoin blocks saw a slight shift from the periodic interval.
According to Clark Moody’s dashboard, BTC mining became faster than the average rate of one block every nine minutes and 37 seconds.
For emphasis, Bitcoin mining difficulty measures how hard it is to mine a single block of Bitcoin. It refers to the difficulty of solving Bitcoin’s complex cryptographic puzzles in the mining process.
Usually, Bitcoin mining difficulty readjusts every 2,016 blocks, about two weeks. The adjustment maintains the average of one block mining every 10 minutes, irrespective of the number of active miners worldwide.
Moreover, as mining difficulty rises, miners will require more computational power and energy to find the correct hash for the next Bitcoin block. Mining difficulty also surges if the number of miners increases.
On the other hand, when a few miners compete to solve the cryptic puzzles, the network reduces the difficulty of mining. This approach will simplify the mining process, allowing the few miners to discover new blocks within the average time easily.
Bitcoin Hash Rate Reaches Record High As Public Miners Boost Their Mining Activities
Bitcoin hash rate, a measure of the network’s total computational power, has crossed 700 EH/s for the first time. On Monday, the BTC hash rate hit a new seven-day moving average high of 724.6 EH/s, according to data from Ycharts.
The data indicated that the hash rate fluctuated between 574 million and 742 million within the past few weeks. It gradually surged above 791 million, maintaining the mark for two days.
The surge came as prominent US-based public Bitcoin miners scaled up their mining gear, reflecting increased dominance.
A report from an investment management company, VanEck, revealed that these public miners currently control 30% of Bitcoin’s total hash rate.
According to VanEck’s analysts: “This concentration means that any further pivots by these listed miners toward AI/HPC could have significant implications for global hashrate and difficulty.”
Many miners have diversified to AI, and VanEck believes this divergence could considerably reduce global mining difficulty and hash rate. If all things remain equal and market conditions stay favorable, this reduction will make the mining sector more profitable for the few players remaining.
Meanwhile, the broader crypto market is bearish, with price drops across most assets. BTC trades at $66,302, down by over 1.55% over the past 24 hours.
