Data from BTC.com reveals that the Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached a new all-time high of 86.4 trillion before the impending Bitcoin halving. This adjustment, which took place on April 10, saw a 3.4% increase in mining difficulty from the previous level of 83 trillion, set on March 28. The mining difficulty of Bitcoin continues to rise as the historic halving event approaches, which will cut miner rewards by 50%. This adjustment is likely to be the final one before the halving, with the next adjustment expected in 13 days, around April 24. The Bitcoin halving itself is predicted to occur in eight days on April 19, according to M2 data.
The mining difficulty of Bitcoin is a measure of the complexity and time required to mine a new block or solve mathematical puzzles using Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism. This difficulty is adjusted every 2,016 blocks, or approximately every two weeks, in order to maintain a target block time of 10 minutes. The mining difficulty is directly influenced by the hash rate of the Bitcoin blockchain, which measures the computational power of miners to generate new BTC.
As the Bitcoin mining difficulty has increased, so has the hash rate. From March 28 to April 10, the hash rate surged from around 619 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 696 EH/s, according to BTC.com. In fact, on March 24, the Bitcoin hash rate reached an all-time high of 727.9 EH/s, as reported by BitInfoCharts.
However, analysts predict that the hash rate may decline after the upcoming Bitcoin halving in 2024. Galaxy’s mining analysts suggest that up to 20% of Bitcoin’s current hash rate could go offline as miners may turn off their rigs due to reduced efficiency. They also noted that by the end of 2023, more than 70% of the Bitcoin hash rate was produced by just eight ASIC miner models.
In conclusion, the Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached a new high before the halving, indicating the increasing complexity of mining. The hash rate has also seen significant growth but may decline after the halving.