Bitcoin Network’s Mining Difficulty Rises to All-Time High, Making Block Discovery More Challenging

Bitcoin Network's Mining Difficulty Rises to All-Time High, Making Block Discovery More Challenging

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty printed a record increase on Jan. 15, 2023, rising 10.26% to 37.73 trillion at block height 772,128. The network’s difficulty is now at an all-time high. This means, on average, it takes 37.73 trillion hashes, or attempts, to find a valid bitcoin block reward and add it to the blockchain.

2023’s First Difficulty Increase Outpaces All but One of the Difficulty Increases in 2022

As of 8:15 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023, approximately 286.36 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashrate is dedicated to the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain. The Bitcoin network experienced a difficulty retarget at 4:11 p.m. Eastern time, at block height 772,128, resulting in an increase of 10.26%.

The difficulty was approximately 34.09 trillion last week, and it reached an all-time high (ATH) of 37.73 trillion on Sunday, making it exceptionally difficult to find a BTC block. Prior to the Jan. 15, 2023, difficulty increase, the highest difficulty rating on the Bitcoin blockchain was 36.76 trillion on Nov. 6, 2022.

Bitcoin Network's Mining Difficulty Rises to All-Time High, Making Block Discovery More Challenging

The current difficulty is 2.63% higher than the previous high. The Jan. 15 difficulty rise also surpasses all but one of the difficulty increases from last year. In 2022, the largest difficulty increase took place on Oct. 10, 2022, at block height 758,016, when it rose by 13.55%. Bitcoin’s price has climbed 22.7% higher in the last seven days, which is beneficial to Bitcoin miners. However, the 10.26% difficulty increase will make profits a lot tighter.

The new year began with a bang for Bitcoin as the network’s hashrate reached an all-time high of 361.20 exahash per second (EH/s) on Jan. 6, 2023, at block height 770,709. This surpassed the previous record of 347.16 EH/s set on Nov. 12, 2022. The high hashrate has led to faster block intervals and the difficulty increase that was recorded on Sunday afternoon.

With two records set in the first month of the new year, 2023 will be noteworthy for miners. At press time, the cost of Bitcoin production, according to macromicro.me data, is an estimated $17,377 per unit, while BTC is trading at $20,876 per coin.

Additionally, mining pool concentration has grown significantly, with two mining pools commanding more than 56.68% of the global hashrate over the past three days. Statistics show that the top mining pool, Foundry USA, commands 97.03 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashrate, while Antpool has around 55.92 EH/s.

The next difficulty change is expected to occur on or around Jan. 28, 2023, and the current block interval time is around 8 minutes, 26 seconds. Despite reaching an all-time high on Jan. 6, the average hashrate during the past 2,016 blocks has been around 268.9 exahashes per second (EH/s). At the time of writing, there are 67,846 blocks left to be mined before the next reward halving, and an issuance of 1,736,531.23 Bitcoin (BTC) waiting to be discovered.

What are your thoughts on the impact of the all-time high difficulty level in bitcoin mining? Share your perspective in the comments section below.




Register now to receive up to $255 welcome bonus. Let cryptocurrency change your life Register now to receive up to $255 welcome bonus. Let cryptocurrency change your life

Popular Posts

Social Commerce on Cardano: Meloot to Hold a Seed Sale on KICK․IO

Image
PRESS RELEASE. The world of e-commerce is rapidly transitioning to that of social commerce, where demand for products is driven by videos and posts from social media. Both brands and their consumers can benefit from advertising products through social media, with stronger sales and valuable insights into product use cases, which further encourage online shopping. Video commerce already accounts for 10% of Chinese e-commerce – a trend that is already making its way to the West. That’s why we are thrilled to be hosting the seed sale of Meloot ($LADA) on the KICK.IO launchpad . Meloot is the first decentralized e-commerce platform on the Cardano blockchain, powered by its native utility token $LADA. You can think of Meloot as Amazon driven by TikTok, where e-commerce capabilities are utilised in synergy with video-based shopping, and Meloot algorithm connects people to the brands they like through an interactive medium. Meloot offers a platform for the sale and purchase of physical
Read more

TA: Bitcoin Lacks Momentum Above $38.5K, But Dips Likely To Be Limited

  Bitcoin extended increase above the $38,800 resistance zone against the US Dollar. BTC is now struggling near $39,200 and might correct a few points. Bitcoin started a fresh increase and was able to clear the $38,500 resistance zone. The price is now trading above $38,000 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There is a key bullish trend line forming with support near $37,650 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken). The pair could continue to rise if it stays above the $37,500 support zone in the near term. Bitcoin Price Consolidates Bitcoin price remained strong above the $37,500 pivot level. BTC extended increase and was able to clear the $38,500 resistance zone . The price even spiked above the $39,000 level and settled above the 100 hourly simple moving average . A high is formed near the $39,290 level and the price is now consolidating gains. There was a minor decline below the $38,800 level.   Bitcoin traded below the 23.6% Fib retracement l
Read more

Ukraine Crypto Donations: Government Now Accepts Over 70 Crypto Assets

Image
Crypto payment processor Coingate and International Business Settlement (IBS) have started an arrangement with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) that enables well-wishers to send donations to Ukraine via more than 70 different crypto assets. Calls for Widening List of Accepted Crypto Donations Lithuania-based crypto payment processor Coingate recently said it has begun an arrangement with the Ukrainian central bank that has seen the number of crypto assets well-wishers can donate to the country’s armed forces rise from just four to more than 70. This widening of the list of accepted crypto assets comes just a few days after the Ukrainian government acceded to Polkadot creator Gavin Wood’s pleas to have DOT added to the list of cryptos accepted for donations. As reported by Bitcoin.com News, shortly after the Ukrainian government said it would accept polkadot donations, Wood immediately honored his pledge and donated DOT coins worth over $5 million. Consequently, the Ukrainian g
Read more

Ethereum At $3028, Where Is The Next Critical Support Level For ETH?

Ethereum was priced at $3030 and the altcoin king noted a sharp decline of 11% in the past week. Major cryptocurrencies are all on a downtrend, after breaking past their immediate support levels. Bitcoin was priced below $40k and had declined by 12% over the past week. The global cryptocurrency market cap stood at $1.96 Trillion after a decline of 0.2% over the last 24 hours. Ethereum had witnessed a selling spree in the last week but over the last 24 hours, the coin tried to recover from the grasp of sellers, however, buying pressure is yet to resurface in the market. Recently, Ethereum developers went live with their Mainnet Shadow Fork. Ethereum Price Analysis: Four Hour Chart Ethereum is priced at $3028. Image Source: ETH/USD on TradingView Ethereum was priced at $3028.86 and the coin has been hovering around the aforementioned price level over the past 48 hours. Immediate resistance for the coin stood at $3085.60 after the coin has been rejected from that level a couple of time
Read more

48% of Ethereum Blocks Face Censorship From OFAC-Compliant Flashbots

Image
For a couple of years now, MEV-Boost relays or Flashbots have become popular tools in order to gather the maximum value that can be extracted from Ethereum’s block production. However, in recent times, Flashbots have been controversial as people believe the technology threatens Ethereum’s censorship-resistance. This is because Flashbots account for 48% of blocks that are compliant with government-enforced regulations. Nakamoto Coefficient or Government Coefficient? — Crypto Users Complain That OFAC-Compliant Flashbots Have Stained Ethereum’s Censorship-Resistance While Ethereum has been complimented for meeting the demands of environmentalists, critics believe the blockchain network made a trade-off by increasing validator centralization, and the probability of rising censorship for a so-called ‘greener’ blockchain. The day after The Merge , when Ethereum transitioned from a proof-of-work (PoW) network to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain, PoW supporters criticized Ethereum over th
Read more

Localbitcoins, Crypto.com, Other Providers Suspend Services for Russians Under EU Rules

Image
Complying with the latest EU sanctions targeting Russia, well-known cryptocurrency platforms like Localbitcoins, Blockchain.com, and Crypto.com have started to restrict or terminate services for Russian accounts. The moves follow the adoption of new European penalties in response to Moscow’s military escalation in Ukraine. Major Crypto Platforms Conform to EU Measures, Restrict Services for Russian Users Over Ukraine War About a week after the European Union introduced another set of measures aimed at hurting Russia’s economy and finances, including its access to the crypto market, a number of service providers in the industry have taken steps to comply with the new requirements. In April, the bloc banned only high-value services, those for digital assets exceeding €10,000 in value ($11,000 at the time). Last Thursday, Brussels prohibited the provision of all crypto-related services to Russian residents and entities, regardless of the amount. Localbitcoins, the peer-to-peer excha
Read more

Conflicting Opinions on Future of US Economy, Bitcoin Added to Guinness World Records, and More — Week in Review

Image
Economist and gold bug Peter Schiff has warned that the United States Federal Reserve’s actions to rein in inflation could lead to a “massive financial crisis” or flight away from the dollar on a global scale. Meanwhile, Joe Biden says the economy is “strong as hell,” and Bank of America and JP Morgan also say the economy is in good shape. Outside of the world of state-created, centralized money, bitcoin has now been added to the Guinness Book of World Records. Economist Peter Schiff Warns Fed Action Could Lead to Market Crashes, Massive Financial Crisis, Severe Recession Gold bug and economist Peter Schiff says there are two possible outcomes of the Federal Reserve’s action on the U.S. economy. One outcome leads to “a massive financial crisis and severe recession” as stocks, bonds, and real estate crash. In the second outcome, “the world will run away from the dollar,” the economist stressed. Read More Biden Says US Economy Is ‘Strong as Hell’ — White House Claims the President
Read more