Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Reaches New Peak Causing Difficulties For Miners

Key Points:

• Bitcoin mining difficulty has increased by 3.5%, creating competition and challenges for miners.
• Bitcoin’s halving in April cut mining rewards by half, led to a 10% price drop and pressured miners’ profitability.

Competition has risen, pushing Bitcoin mining difficulty to new heights of intricacy and making it more difficult for companies to mint the cryptocurrency.

Read more: Bitcoin Price Surge Towards $100,000 After US Presidential Election 

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Sets Record

The Bitcoin mining difficulty measure of how hard a miner must work to receive the cryptocurrency jumped 3.5% on Wednesday to an all-time high, according to data from CoinWarz. The metric has been inching upwards gradually and typically reflects market expectations of future price movements.

The cryptocurrency has lost 10 per cent of its value since the Bitcoin halving in April, a regular code adjustment that sliced mining rewards by half. The event has slashed the margins of miners, with many barely staying above water. While the halving cuts inflation and controls supply, it also slashes revenue for miners, putting additional pressure on an already fragile industry.

According to a Bloomberg report, Christopher Bendiksen, Bitcoin research lead at CoinShares, noted that the increased difficulty makes things hard for miners.

“The effect of the all-time high in difficulty, right on the back of the halving earlier this year, is making the outlook extremely challenging for many miners — especially those at the higher end of the cost curve,” Bendiksen said. He warned this might be tough for some miners to keep cash flow positive.

Record Hash Rate Suggests Higher Network Security

In September, the Bitcoin hash rate, which aggregated computational power securing the network, reached an all-time high. Traditionally, the price of Bitcoin tends to decline into a halving before rising again months later. The latest halving could be no different, but the increased difficulty is a new aspect the mining industry has to face.

Despite Bitcoin reaching an all-time high of $73,800 in March, the stock prices of major publicly traded U.S. mining companies have headed south. Bitcoin changed hands at about $58,000 at the time of writing.