The Bitcoin mining difficulty just hit a record high of 92.67 trillion. That’s a 3.6% increase as competition among miners heats up. This adjustment happened at block height 860,832, surpassing the previous record of 90.67 trillion set at the end of July, according to blockchain explorer Mempool, as reported by The Block.
So, what does this mean? Well, mining difficulty measures how tough it is to mine a new block. The system automatically adjusts this every 2016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, to keep block discovery around 10 minutes. When more miners join in, the difficulty goes up, requiring more computing power and energy to get those new blocks.
This rise in difficulty aligns with a record hash rate of 693.84 exahashes per second (EH/s) over a seven-day moving average, also reported by The Block. This increase follows a brief dip after Bitcoin’s fourth halving event in April, which cut block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
The halving event had a big impact on miners’ earnings. Their revenue dropped from a seven-day average of $72.4 million to between $25 and $30 million. This situation pushed some less efficient miners out of the market. Plus, Bitcoin's hash price, which shows expected earnings per terahash, hit a record low of $0.04 this month.
Despite these challenges, public miners in the U.S. are stepping up. They’re expanding their capacity, upgrading their rigs, and consolidating market share. This activity is helping to boost Bitcoin’s overall hash rate. As miners adapt to these changes, experts see this as a time of consolidation.
Currently, Bitcoin trades at $57,670, reflecting a 0.9% increase according to CoinGecko. The future of Bitcoin mining and its rising difficulty will be key topics at Benzinga's Future of Digital Assets event on November 19. Industry leaders will discuss how these trends are shaping the world of digital finance.