Bitcoin mining difficulty, the measure of the complexity of solving cryptographic puzzles in the mining process, surpassed 80 trillion on February 16. The network’s hash rate, which represents the total computational power used by miners, reached 562.81 exahashes per second (EH/s), and the mining difficulty reached a record of 81.73 trillion, as reported by BTC.com. Since January 2023, Bitcoin mining difficulty has steadily increased and is projected to reach 100 trillion in the coming months.
In Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism, a higher difficulty means that miners need more computational power and energy to find the correct hash. Over the past year, Bitcoin’s difficulty level has more than doubled.
At the automatic readjustment on February 15, Bitcoin mining difficulty was expected to increase by approximately 6%. If this occurs, it will set a new all-time high above 80 trillion.
On February 16, Bitcoin maintained its price at $52,000 as the latest macro data from the United States exceeded expectations. BTC price action remained stagnant during the last TradFi trading session of the week, according to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.
Bitcoin’s mining rewards will be halved in April, a phenomenon known as the Bitcoin Halving. To combat inflation, Bitcoin’s developers programmed this reduction into the token’s structure approximately every four years. The last halving occurred in May 2020.
During the upcoming halving, Bitcoin’s rewards will decrease from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This change could lead to a lower hash rate as less efficient miners may struggle to cover their expenses and shut down their mining rigs. A decrease in hash rate is likely to result in a decline in Bitcoin mining difficulty as the network aims to maintain a steady block production every 10 minutes.
Galaxy Digital analysts estimate that up to 20% of Bitcoin’s current hash rate could go offline after the halving, leaving only the most efficient mining rigs in operation.