Bitcoin Hash Rate
With the fluctuations in the crypto market, Bitcoin has reached several unexpected levels this year. The crypto winter in the first half of the year sent the leading crypto asset out of balance. As a result, the price of BTC fell to more than half of its value as of November 2021.
But despite the price swing, Bitcoin’s hash rate has risen since its decline in mid-July. In a recent report, the BTC hash rate has reached a new all-time high (ATH). This new position came after the latest increase in mining difficulty.
The importance of the hash rate metric to the Bitcoin blockchain is that it provides information about the strength of the network based on the BTC mining process. In addition, it correlates the number of active miners and their computational mining equipment operating on the network.
Many people make a connection between the price of a cryptocurrency and the hash rate for future moves. But there can be twists and turns in some cases, as seen for Bitcoin in recent weeks.
Hash rate increases amid price battle
The price of BTC has been battling for the past few months. It was barely able to maintain its position around the $20K region in July. However, Bitcoin’s hash rate has been at a higher level in the weeks the price has struggled.
Usually, the regulatory authorities in different countries influence the mining activities during the summer months. For example, they ban the local miners due to the higher energy demand during the period. Therefore, the BTC hash rate will drop. The record for this year’s season pointed to a drop to 170 Ehash/s in mid-July from the June value of 250 Ehash/s.
But as the summer fades, the stat is recovering. Within weeks, the hash rate has increased by more than 50%, reaching a new all-time high of 265 Ehash/s last weekend.
Trend In Bitcoin Mining Problems
The difficulty of BTC mining is adjusted after every 2,016 blocks (two weeks). This adjustment is necessary to keep the network in the correct position. This means that the Bitcoin blockchain will maintain production of its block in just 10 minutes.
Therefore, due to the mining difficulty adjustment, it will be difficult for miners to work when many of them are connected to the network. Conversely, it will be easier to mine if the number of miners drops.
The mining difficulty is currently 30.98 T, while the subsequent adjustment will take place in less than 24 hours. According to the data from BTC.com, the stat may be positive again, showing a 3% increase.
With many miners offline during the summer, the mining difficulty indicated more negative adjustments. But the trend changed on August 31, giving the statistic the highest positive value since January this year.
Featured image from BBC, chart from TradingView.com
