Bitcoin Hashrate Surges as Mining Difficulty Reaches Record High with 1.7% Increase

Updated: 21 April 2023

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Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has hit a record high of 48.71 T after a 1.72% increase at block height 786,240, even in the midst of a bear market.

Despite this, the network’s average hashrate has managed to reach a new peak of 348.6 EH/s. Over the last 12 months, the mining difficulty of Bitcoin has experienced notable fluctuations, with a starting value of 29.79T on April 27, 2022, and reaching a record level on April 20.

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Reaches Record High Despite Price Dip and Profitability Drop

This translates to a significant 63.54% rise in mining difficulty, mostly due to spikes in adjustments. Only five instances in the past year saw a decline in mining difficulty. According to data from Blockchain.com, Bitcoin’s hashrate, which measures the computational power used by miners, increased from 338.3 EH/s on April 6 to 355.4 EH/s per second on Wednesday.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price had declined by 1.94% over the past 24 hours to trade at US$28,284. It had fallen 7.83% over the past seven days, according to data from CoinMarketCap. However, the largest coin by market capitalization had risen over 70% so far this year, trading at around US$28,100 on April 6.

Data from BitInfoCharts showed that the profitability rate of Bitcoin mining had dropped to US$0.0646 per terahash per second in the past 24 hours from US$0.2 a year ago.

The mining difficulty of Bitcoin measures the difficulty miners face in finding a valid hash for a block of transactions, and it adjusts every 2,016 blocks, or approximately every two weeks, to maintain a stable block time of around 10 minutes. As mining difficulty increases, it becomes harder for miners to mine new blocks, ultimately resulting in a more secure network.

This enhanced security is due to the increasing computational power required to execute a successful attack, which becomes more challenging with the rising mining difficulty. The fact that the mining difficulty has reached a record high is a testament to the Bitcoin network’s strength and resilience, as it attracts more miners and investment.

Bitdeer Technologies Reports Net Loss in 2022 and Decrease in Revenue

Other shares of Singapore-based cryptocurrency miner Bitdeer Technologies have fallen more than 35%, and they closed at US$6.41 on Wednesday. The company, which merged with Blue Safari Group Acquisition Corp., a – special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) with a valuation of US$1.18 billion, reported a net loss of US$60.4 million in 2022, compared to a net profit of US$82.6 million the previous year, in its latest earnings report on Thursday.

Due to a decrease in income from its primary mining operations and mining machine sales, the company’s revenue decreased by 15.6% to US$333.3 million. Bitdeer, which was spun off from Chinese mining machine manufacturer Bitmain, operated six mining centres with a combined power capacity of 775 megawatts in the United States and Norway at the end of 2022.

Bitdeer reported a decrease in its adjusted profit and EBITDA for 2022, recording $30.3 million in adjusted profit and $93.2 million in adjusted EBITDA, compared to $171 million and $281.8 million, respectively, in 2021. Despite the cryptocurrency market’s volatility and industry disruptions, Bitdeer’s CEO, Linghui Kong, emphasized the company’s resilience and viability.

Additionally, Kong announced Bitdeer’s plan to expand its electricity capacity from 775 megawatts achieved in 2022 to potentially 1,524 megawatts without providing a specific timeline for the expansion.

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