Bitcoin mining difficulty soared to a record-breaking 83.95 trillion hashes on March 14. This milestone was achieved on the same day that Bitcoin reached an all-time high price of $73,835, generating increased investor optimism ahead of the upcoming Bitcoin halving in April. Mining difficulty measures the level of difficulty involved in mining Bitcoin by solving cryptographic puzzles that become more or less challenging depending on the number of miners on the network.
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty reached the new record of 83.95T hashes, marking a 5.8% increase from the previous measurement of 79.35T on February 29. This was achieved at a rate of 613.94 exahashes per second (EH/s), which was a 1.96% increase compared to the previous cycle’s rate of 602.14 EH/s.
According to BTC.com’s projections, the mining difficulty is expected to slightly increase to 84.17T at the next difficulty check on March 27. This comes after the mining difficulty surpassed 80T on February 15 before decreasing at the February 29 update.
While Bitcoin’s price has continued to rise, miners have also benefited from this positive momentum. Mining rewards reached $78.89 million on March 11, surpassing the previous high of $74.4 million in October 2021. Bitcoin’s price reached $72,953 on March 12 before experiencing a slight decline to $69,655.
On March 14, Bitcoin also saw a similar pattern of reaching a new all-time high, only to retreat shortly after. The rally on that day pushed BTC to $73,835 before falling back to $69,813. As of the time of writing, BTC has recovered to $70,000.
Experts and industry insiders attribute Bitcoin’s steady growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 and extending into the first quarter of 2024 to the upcoming halving event scheduled for mid-April. During the halving, the block reward for mining Bitcoin 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, with rewards being cut 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 latest budget proposal.