Bitcoin Mining Hits All-Time High Difficulty—Can the Network Keep Up?

TL;DR

• Bitcoin mining difficulty surpassed 100T, reaching an all-time high of 101.65T.
• Bitcoin hashrate also set a record of 755 EH/s on a weekly average.
• Small miners face increased pressure from rising costs and competition.

Bitcoin mining difficulty has hit an all-time high of 101.65T, a significant milestone that marks the first time this metric has surpassed 100 trillion units.

This increase is an indicator of the growth and strength of the Bitcoin network, which continues to evolve despite fluctuations in the price of the cryptocurrency.

However, this increase also brings with it greater challenges for smaller miners, who lack the same financial resources as larger, public companies in the sector.

According to data from Glassnode, reported by James Van Straten, the current situation has highlighted the competitiveness gap between the different participants in the mining industry.

Mining difficulty measures the complexity of finding new blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain and is automatically adjusted every 2,016 blocks, approximately every two weeks.

This difficulty has increased 60% of the time this year, indicating that the network is constantly demanding more computing power to mine Bitcoin.

This increase in difficulty is also reflected in the hashrate, which reached a record average of 755 EH/s in the last week of October, consolidating itself as the highest level recorded to date.

For miners, these increases in difficulty and hashrate mean higher operating costs, which in turn puts pressure on smaller miners.

These traders often sell a large portion of their Bitcoin profits to cover their expenses, while public companies and large miners can afford to hoard some of their BTC, thus reducing selling pressure.

Despite this competitive environment, in October some miners managed to retain a portion of their coins, replenishing their reserves after a period of massive sales in August and September.

An uncertain future for small Bitcoin miners

The financial pressure that miners are currently facing is reflected in the Bitcoin market, where the sale of mined coins daily represents a constant flow of liquidity.

With an average of 450 BTC mined per day, equivalent to about $31.5 million, the total sale of these assets could impact the price of the cryptocurrency. However, the tendency to retain part of the production by some miners could reduce the impact of this selling pressure on the market.

In this context, small miners must adapt to stay competitive. Rising operating costs and increasing mining difficulty force them to look for alternatives, such as immediately selling Bitcoin or improving their infrastructure to reduce costs and stay in business.

The consolidation of large mining players could be a growing trend, as they have the capital and cutting-edge technology to absorb these changes more efficiently.

As the Bitcoin network continues to grow, changes in difficulty and hashrate also reinforce its security and resilience to potential attacks. This historic milestone in mining difficulty shows that the Bitcoin ecosystem continues to strengthen and mature, albeit with significant challenges for those without deep pockets.

The increase in hashrate also suggests that the network is attracting an unprecedented amount of computing power, cementing its position as one of the most secure and robust networks in the crypto space.

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