Hashrate Index revealed in a tweet, “This morning, Bitcoin's mining difficulty hit an all-time of 35.61 T after adjusting by 13.55%...”
Bitcoin mining difficulty--the amount of computing power dedicated to Bitcoin mining--has reached an all-time high.
Hashrate Index took to Twitter to announce the development, stating that it now takes 35.61 trillion hashes to mine one Bitcoin. This accounts for an increase of 13.55% compared to the previous figure.
According to Hashrate Index,
“This morning, Bitcoin's mining difficulty hit an all-time of 35.61 T after adjusting by 13.55%. This adjustment was the largest positive adjustment since May 13, 2021”
Typically, the Bitcoin code runs a difficulty adjustment after every 2,016 blocks (about every two weeks). The total computing power used to mine Bitcoin determines the adjustment's size and direction. The goal is to maintain block confirmations every 10 minutes.
Higher difficulty adds to Bitcoin miners’ existing troubles, including rising power costs and low Bitcoin prices. Bitcoin is trading in a narrow range around the lower $19,000 mark. At the time of publication, the price was $19,091.
In a previous statement, Argo Blockchain CEO, Peter Wall, explained how these challenges had forced the London-based miner to raise $27 million last week to ease liquidity pressures.
According to Peter,
"Our profitability has been squeezed from both sides from higher energy prices to lower bitcoin price, that's resulted in a cash crunch for Argo."
However, according to a Bloomberg report, the surge in Bitcoin mining can be attributed partly to the decline in Ethereum mining following the Merge update on September 15, 2022. They believe the upgrade freed up more room for Bitcoin miners.
