Bitcoin mining difficulty has once again undergone an adjustment in preparation for the upcoming Bitcoin halving, reaching a record high of 86.4 trillion, as reported by BTC.com. This adjustment, which took place on April 10, resulted in a 3.4% increase in difficulty compared to the previous level of 83 trillion set on March 28.
The difficulty of mining Bitcoin (BTC) continues to rise in anticipation of the historic halving event, which will reduce miner rewards by 50%. The most recent adjustment is likely the final one before the halving takes place.
BTC.com indicates that the next difficulty adjustment will occur in approximately 13 days, around April 24. Meanwhile, the Bitcoin halving is expected to occur in just eight days, on April 19, according to data from M2.
Bitcoin mining difficulty is a measure of the difficulty and time required to mine a new block or solve mathematical puzzles within Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. The difficulty adjustment occurs every 2,016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, in order to maintain a target block time of 10 minutes as programmed in Bitcoin’s protocol.
The mining difficulty is directly influenced by the Bitcoin blockchain hash rate, which measures the computational power of miners in producing new BTC. As the Bitcoin mining difficulty has increased, so has the hash rate, rising from approximately 619 exahashes per second (EH/s) on March 28 to 696 EH/s on April 10, according to BTC.com.
According to data from BitInfoCharts, the Bitcoin hash rate reached an all-time high of 727.9 EH/s on March 24. However, some analysts predict that the hash rate is likely to decline after the upcoming Bitcoin halving in 2024. Galaxy’s mining analysts suggest that up to 20% of the current hash rate could go offline as miners may choose to turn off their rigs due to reduced efficiency. They also note that by the end of 2023, eight ASIC miner models accounted for over 70% of the Bitcoin hash rate.
In conclusion, the Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached a new all-time high ahead of the halving event, with the hash rate also experiencing significant growth. However, there are predictions of a decline in the hash rate post-halving as miners may choose to shut down their operations.