Bitcoin mining difficulty reached a record-breaking level of 83.95 trillion hashes on March 14th. This milestone was achieved on the same day that Bitcoin (BTC) hit an all-time high price of $73,835, fueled by increased investor optimism leading up to the April Bitcoin halving. Mining difficulty refers to the level of difficulty in solving cryptographic puzzles to mine Bitcoin, which fluctuates based on the number of miners in the network.
On February 29th, Bitcoin reached the new difficulty high of 83.95T hashes, marking a 5.8% increase from the previous measurement of 79.35T. This was achieved at a rate of 613.94 exahashes per second (EH/s), a 1.96% increase from the previous cycle’s 602.14 EH/s.
It is worth noting that mining difficulty had surpassed 80T on February 15th before dropping again in the February 29th update. According to projections from BTC.com, the difficulty is expected to slightly increase to 84.17T in the next difficulty check scheduled for March 27th.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price has maintained its upward momentum, benefiting miners. Mining rewards reached $78.89 million on March 11th, surpassing the previous high of $74.4 million set in October 2021. This coincided with Bitcoin’s price reaching $72,953 on March 12th before retracting to $69,655.
On March 14th, Bitcoin experienced a similar pattern of reaching a new all-time high followed by a quick retreat. The rally pushed BTC to $73,835 before falling back to $69,813. At the time of writing this article, BTC has risen back to $70,000.
Industry analysts and experts attribute Bitcoin’s steady growth in Q4 2023 and extending into Q1 2024 to the upcoming halving event scheduled for mid-April. During the halving, the block reward for mining BTC will be halved from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. The first halving occurred on November 28, 2014, reducing rewards from 50 to 25 BTC. The second halving took place on July 9, 2016, cutting rewards from 25 to 12.5 BTC. The most recent halving occurred on May 11, 2020, reducing block rewards to 6.25 BTC.
In related news, President Biden has proposed a 30% tax on crypto mining in his new budget proposal.