Bitcoin mining difficulty soared to a historic peak of 83.95 trillion hashes on March 14. This milestone was achieved on the same day that Bitcoin (BTC) reached an all-time high price of $73,835, driven by increased investor sentiment ahead of the upcoming April Bitcoin halving. Mining difficulty is a measure of the level of difficulty in mining Bitcoin through solving cryptographic puzzles, which adjust based on the number of miners on the network.
The new difficulty high of 83.95T hashes represents a 5.8% increase from the previous measurement of 79.35T on February 29. It was achieved at a rate of 613.94 exahashes per second (EH/s), which is a 1.96% increase compared to the previous cycle’s rate of 602.14 EH/s.
Just under a month ago, on February 15, mining difficulty had surpassed 80T before decreasing again in the February 29 update. Projections from BTC.com indicate that the difficulty is expected to slightly increase to 84.17T in the next difficulty check scheduled for March 27.
In the meantime, Bitcoin’s price continues to gain momentum, benefiting miners. On March 11, mining rewards surged to $78.89 million, surpassing the previous high of $74.4 million set in October 2021. Bitcoin’s price also experienced a surge, reaching $72,953 on March 12 before dropping back to $69,655.
On March 14, Bitcoin’s price briefly reached a new all-time high before retracting, with the rally pushing BTC to $73,835 before settling at $69,813. At the time of writing, BTC has regained the $70K mark.
Industry analysts and experts attribute Bitcoin’s steady growth in Q4 2023 and continuing into Q1 2024 to the upcoming halving event scheduled for mid-April. During the halving, the block reward for mining BTC will be halved from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. The first halving occurred on November 28, 2014, when rewards were reduced from 50 to 25 BTC. The second halving took place on July 9, 2016, reducing rewards from 25 to 12.5 BTC. The most recent halving occurred on May 11, 2020, reducing block rewards to 6.25 BTC.
In related news, President Biden has proposed a 30% tax on crypto mining in his new budget proposal.