The Network Data That Shows It’s Now Harder to Mine Bitcoin Than Ever
With the prices of Bitcoin reaching heights not seen since 2017, it is likely no surprise that Bitcoin mining is more popular than ever. However, mining this special cryptocurrency is also more competitive than it has ever been in the past. Based on several monitoring websites, the Bitcoin hash rate hit a high on July 7 that has never been seen in the past. The last record was broken in June and growth has continued since that point.
Competitiveness in Bitcoin Mining
If you’re considering getting into Bitcoin mining, you should know that it is more difficult than it has ever been in the past. Mining difficulty, which corresponds to how challenging it is to get rewards into your wallet while mining, have hit an unprecedented 7.93 trillion. That’s a 7% increase from 7.45 trillion, which was the last record set for the cryptocurrency.
The network for Bitcoin is developed in a way where every 2,016 blocks, the difficulty of solved problems goes up. This happens about once every two weeks, but it can vary based on how much computer power is used in the network. When more people and computers are mining, the difficulty of the math problems that mine Bitcoin increases. When there are fewer computers, the problems get a bit easier.
Bitcoin Hash Rate Data
From June 1 through June 14, the data at BTC.com shows that miners were calculating hashes at a rate of 56.778 quintillion hashes per second. The average three day period was 59.7, which is an increase from the last record of 56.77. Other data from blockchain.info shows that on June 22, hashes per second reached 66, which is a bit of a jump from the last record of 61.86. This all means that there is a higher level of competition than ever between Bitcoin miners. It also speaks to the general security of the network.
If you assume that all the mining power is from the highly popular Antminer ASIC miners and the Bitmain Antminer S9, capable of 14 tera hashes in a second, this means that about two million units of mining equipment have likely been used over the last few months.
Numbers May Go Up Yet Again
This data shows great confidence in Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general. It shows that there is still plenty of growth to be had in the network. While the market may not have been great in 2018, things are heating up in 2019 and that is partially due to how stable the network is. At its lowest last year, the hash rate was only 32 quintillion while the highest was 61 quintillion.
The increase in mining and difficulty is coming at a time when the price for Bitcoin has also seen a rise. This has led to a demand for second-hand mining equipment in China as well as increased demand for new mining machines. The next adjustment level is expected to add another 7% of difficulty, which will push past the eight trillion threshold.
