Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached a record high, driven by an unprecedented surge in the network’s seven-day moving average hash rate.
On Oct. 21, data from Blockchain.com revealed that Bitcoin’s seven-day hash rate reached an all-time peak of nearly 703 exahashes per second (EH/s), marking the first instance where the network surpassed 700 EH/s.
The hash rate measures the computational power dedicated to solving complex mathematical challenges. These efforts are crucial for validating transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain.
In the past year, the hash rate has consistently increased despite the Bitcoin halving event, which cut miners’ block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This halving reduced daily Bitcoin production from 900 BTC to 450 BTC
This significant milestone occurred just a day before the network’s mining difficulty increased by around 4% to 95.67 trillion on Oct. 22.
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjusts every two weeks after 2,016 blocks are mined. This mechanism is designed to maintain consistent block discovery times. When difficulty rises, miners must use more computational power to successfully mine each block.
An increase in difficulty typically indicates more miners are participating in the network, which raises the overall workload. Higher difficulty also enhances blockchain security, requiring more energy to mount attacks on the network.
Hashrate Index said Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is expected to reach 100 trillion by the end of the year, in line with a seven-day hash rate of over 700 EH/s.
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