Bitcoin mining difficulty is expected to see its biggest increase in more than seven months later this week.
This is because the hash rate has increased by almost 30% in the past two weeks.
Biggest increase in mining difficulty since January?
Adjusting the Bitcoin mining difficulty is an important part of the world’s largest blockchain that makes it easier or harder for miners to do their job depending on the number of devices connected to the network.
Basically, the more miners working on the network, the harder it is for them to get rewards, and vice versa. This adjustment process occurs every 2016 blocks (approximately two weeks) and ensures that block production remains the same, regardless of the number of active miners.
In recent years, it usually decreased during the summer months because a few countries, such as Iran, banned mining during this period due to the high demand for electricity.
This happened back in 2022, and the Bitcoin network experienced several back-to-back negative adjustments in the middle of summer. The largest was on July 21 (-0.01%) – a level not seen in over a year.
The trend reversed in early August with a positive increase of 1.74%, followed by another (0.63%) two weeks later.
The next adjustment is scheduled in less than 48 hours and data from BTC.com shows it should be an increase of just over 7%. This will be the largest since January 21 (9.32%).
BTC Hash Rate . is also reset
The mining difficulty and hash rate usually move in parallel. When the hash rate goes down, the mining difficulty in trying to deal with this change also goes down.
As such, it’s no wonder the hash rate has fallen quite a bit over the past few months. According to BitInfoCharts, metrics fell from a record high of over 250Ehash/s in early June to 170Ehash/s two months later (early August).
Since then, however, the hash rate has increased by about 30% and is currently only 230Ehash/s, which means it is inches away from hitting a new ATH.
Bitcoin mining difficulties emerged after it was expected to see the biggest increase in 7 months for the first time on CryptoPotato.