Bitcoin (BTC) Mining Difficulty Climbs to Record High Amid Price Rally


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Alex Dovbnya

As part of its design, Bitcoin network adjusts difficulty with every 2,016th block (about two weeks)

Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency, recorded another mining difficulty adjustment at block height 772,128. The mining difficulty climbed more than 10% to 37.59 T, an all-time high. The network’s entire hashrate stands at 269.02 EH/s.

The flagship cryptocurrency is trading slightly above the $21,000 level.

Bitcoin mining difficulty is the measure of how tough it is to find a valid block for a Bitcoin miner to add to the blockchain. The difficulty algorithm adjusts itself after every 2,016th block so that a new block is created about every 10 minutes.

Since Bitcoin’s network hash rate — or hash power — continues to increase over time, issued by miners who upgrade or purchase more powerful equipment, the Bitcoin mining difficulty has undoubtedly been increasing steadily as well. This is known as “a difficulty adjustment,” which helps ensure that blocks continue being found about every 10 minutes regardless of the total hash rate available over time on ever-changing network conditions.

The more people who are trying to mine Bitcoin, the higher the difficulty becomes as miners are competing against each other and/or pooling their resources. This makes it harder for anyone to win a block reward, meaning rewards will become lower and less frequent.

It also increases security by making it nearly impossible for bad actors to do anything malicious with their mined blocks.

However, interconnectivity between Bitcoin mining difficulty and the price of Bitcoin can be difficult to definitively observe. Generally speaking, these two metrics are not directly correlated, given their divergence in terms of timeframes.

Source: https://u.today/bitcoin-btc-mining-difficulty-climbs-to-record-high-amid-price-rally