The difficulty of mining bitcoin is rising. According to data from BTC.com, the mining difficulty for the largest cryptocurrency in the world increased by 9.26% during the previous two weeks.
The website’s analysis reveals that the network’s mining difficulty is at its highest point since January, reaching 30.97 trillion, with the hash rate now averaging around 230 exahashes per second (EH/s).
Utilizing powerful computers to validate transactions on the blockchain is known as bitcoin mining. Bitcoin that has just been created is sent to mining businesses, which are often big operations that require server farms and consume a lot of electricity. Last month, Texas miners stopped working in order to support the electrical system and save energy during a heat wave. This action probably made Bitcoin simpler to mine.
Weeks later, they turned back on, and as the level of difficulty rises, miners may see their income decline as more computer power (and energy) is required, but the price of Bitcoin has stayed stable. According to CoinGecko statistics, the price of one bitcoin was $20,205 at the time of writing. It has been struggling for months to surpass the $25,000 level and is down more than 70% from the record high of $69,044 it reached in November.
According to Scott Norris, co-founder of the private Bitcoin miner LSJ Ops, “difficulty reducing is a reason for concern” since it indicates that more miners are leaving the network, which would make it less effective. Only the most sophisticated and effective operators will be able to compete in the market, according to Zach Bradford, CEO of the mining startup CleanSpark, in an interview with Decrypt.
“Bitcoin’s recent, if short-lived, run-up combined with the easing of heatwaves in some jurisdictions has contributed to more miners powering on and one of the largest difficulty jumps this year,” he said.
“Some miners have chosen to power through the price depression with the expectation that Bitcoin’s price will increase over the coming weeks,” Bradford continued. “Still, this difficulty jump will make it harder to earn bitcoin for miners since there is greater competition on the network.”
He said that the increase might not be sustainable given the price of bitcoin and the present cost of energy.
The enormous amount of energy required for bitcoin mining has long been questioned, but more miners are switching to renewable energy sources to maintain the network’s security. The mining activities of CleanSpark, a company established in Henderson, Nevada, are powered by clean, renewable energy in Texas and Georgia.
