Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits Fresh All-Time High After a Fourth Increase

Bitcoin‘s spot price hasn’t demonstrated any significant breakouts, but the fundamentals of the network have remained unfazed. The BTC.com data shows that after an increase of 3.45%, the mining difficulty reached a new high of 32.05 trillion hashes at a block height of 753,984.

Since the difficulty adjustment decreased in the final week of July, there have been four such increases. In the previous jump, the number of hashes increased by 9.2%, from about 28.3 trillion to 30.9 trillion. This was the year’s second-largest increase, trailing only January’s 9.32 percent increase.

The difficulty of the Bitcoin network also seemed to be copying the hash rate in a renewed attempt to break records. More rigs connected by big public miners may be the driving force behind this. This year, these organizations have been considering growth. Additionally, fewer heatwaves in some areas may have encouraged more miners to start up their equipment.

Last month, Texas miners stopped working in order to support the energy grid and save energy during a heatwave. It was assumed that this action would make it simpler to mine cryptocurrencies. They did, however, turn it back on a few weeks later.

If the price doesn’t increase, the most recent difficulty increase is now anticipated to put pressure on miners’ profit margin. BTC currently struggles to maintain a price above $20,000. As a result, major public miners still struggle to turn a profit on each bitcoin they mine. For them, the past four months have already been challenging, as some have had to sell their bitcoins in order to survive. The net outflow was estimated to be around 21.3k BTC in August.

A decrease in difficulty adjustment could result in miners leaving the network due to rising costs, endangering the security of the system. On the other hand, a rise shows a robust and expanding network. Sectors like gas and hydro could potentially champion low energy costs as regulators become stricter about climate issues, allowing a new generation of long-term mining to emerge.

Image Credit: Shutterstock