Bitcoin mining difficulty, which measures the complexity of solving intricate cryptographic puzzles used in the mining process, surpassed 80 trillion on Friday, February 16th.
According to BTC.com, the network’s hash rate, a measure of the total computing power used by miners, reached 562.81 exahashes per second (EH/s), and the mining difficulty hit a record level of 81.73 trillion. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has steadily increased since January 2023 and is expected to reach 100 trillion in the coming months.
In Bitcoin’s proof-of-work consensus mechanism, higher difficulty means miners need more energy and computational power to find the correct hash function. Last year, Bitcoin’s difficulty more than doubled.
Bitcoin’s price has been stuck at $52,000 as the latest U.S. macroeconomic data exceeded expectations. Data from TradingView shows BTC price action has been sluggish for the past two days.
Bitcoin mining rewards will be halved in April in an event called Bitcoin Halving. To combat inflation, Bitcoin programmers have built halving into the token’s structure roughly every four years. The last time Bitcoin mining rewards were halved was in May 2020.
Bitcoin’s reward will decrease from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC during the upcoming halving. This change could lead to lower hash rates, as less efficient miners may struggle to cover costs and shut down their equipment. A lower hash rate could decrease Bitcoin mining difficulty since the network aims to maintain block production roughly every 10 minutes.
According to analysts at Galaxy Digital, up to 20% of Bitcoin’s current hash rate may shut down after the Bitcoin halving, leaving only the most efficient mining rigs operational.