Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached a new all-time high of 86.4 trillion, marking another adjustment before the upcoming Bitcoin halving event. This adjustment, which occurred on April 10, increased the difficulty by 3.4% from the previous level of 83 trillion set on March 28.
The latest adjustment is likely the final one before the halving, with the next one expected to occur in 13 days, around April 24. The halving itself is anticipated to take place in eight days, on April 19.
Bitcoin mining difficulty measures the level of difficulty and time required to mine a new block or solve mathematical puzzles under Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism. It adjusts every 2,016 blocks or approximately every two weeks to maintain a target block time of 10 minutes.
The mining difficulty is directly linked to the hash rate of the Bitcoin blockchain, which measures miners’ computational power to produce new BTC. As the difficulty has increased, so has the hash rate, rising from around 619 exahashes per second (EH/s) on March 28 to 696 EH/s on April 10.
However, while the difficulty reached an all-time high on April 10, the hash rate actually peaked earlier on March 24, reaching 727.9 EH/s.
Some analysts predict that the hash rate could decline after the upcoming halving event in 2024. They suggest that up to 20% of Bitcoin’s current hash rate may go offline as miners turn off their rigs due to reduced efficiency post-halving. By the end of 2023, over 70% of the hash rate was generated by just eight ASIC miner models.
Overall, Bitcoin mining is becoming increasingly challenging as the halving event approaches, but it remains to be seen how it will impact the market and the future of mining.