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Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) mining difficulty has increased by 3.6%, setting a new record on Wednesday after the total hash rate reached unprecedented levels over the weekend.
What Happened: The difficulty adjustment, which occurred at block height 860,832, raised the mining difficulty to a new peak of 92.67 trillion, surpassing the previous high of 90.67 trillion recorded at the end of July, according to data from blockchain explorer Mempool, The Block reported.
Bitcoin mining difficulty is a relative measure of how challenging it is to mine a new block compared to the easiest it could ever be.
The protocol automatically adjusts the difficulty every 2016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, ensuring that new blocks are found approximately every 10 minutes.
When more miners are active, the difficulty increases, requiring more computational power and energy to mine a new block.
This recent rise in mining difficulty comes as Bitcoin's hash rate — the total computational power dedicated by miners — reached an all-time high of 693.84 exahashes per second (EH/s) over a seven-day moving average on Sunday, based on The Block's data.
This surge in hash rate follows a temporary decline after Bitcoin's fourth halving event in April, which halved block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
The halving event significantly impacted miners' revenue, dropping it from a seven-day moving average of $72.4 million to between $25 and $30 million, forcing less efficient miners out of the market.
Bitcoin's hash price, which measures the expected earnings per terahash of computational power, also hit all-time lows of $0.04 this month.
Despite this, U.S.-based public miners are increasing their capacity, upgrading rigs, and consolidating market share, contributing to the rise in Bitcoin's total hash rate.
As Bitcoin miners continue to adapt to these new conditions, experts see this as a period of consolidation. With Bitcoin currently trading at $57,670, up 0.9% according to CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency market remains closely tied to mining dynamics.
What’s Next: The evolving landscape of Bitcoin mining and its increasing difficulty will be a key topic of discussion at Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets event on Nov. 19, where industry leaders will explore how these trends are shaping the future of digital finance.
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Image: Shutterstock
Posted In: $BTC
