Bitcoin’s Hashrate Rebounds From January Dip as Miners Eye Upcoming Difficulty Adjustment

Bitcoin’s cumulative hashrate witnessed notable swings starting in late December, with a pronounced decline occurring in mid-January. This decrease was primarily attributed to the severe cold in Texas, leading many miners to pause their operations temporarily. By Jan. 21, 2024, the hashrate’s seven-day simple moving average (SMA) dipped under the 500 exahash per second (EH/s) mark, plunging to a year’s low at 482 EH/s. However, since this low, the hashrate has rebounded, showing a 10.99% increase to 535 EH/s.

Bitcoin Network Demonstrates Strength With Hashrate Revival

In the past six days, the hashrate of Bitcoin ascended to 535 EH/s, according to the seven-day SMA from Luxor’s hashrateindex.com. The three-day SMA highlights a zenith of 559 EH/s, while the monthly average is recorded at 522 EH/s. The seven-day indicators point to a 10.99% surge from the trough of 482 EH/s, leading to block times now marginally outpacing the standard ten-minute interval.

Presently, block durations fluctuate between eight minutes and 52 seconds to nine minutes and 21 seconds. As block intervals consistently undercut the typical ten-minute benchmark and the hashrate gathers steam, an impending network difficulty adjustment, expected around Feb. 2, 2024, is likely to bring an increase. Current forecasts hint at a mining difficulty rise ranging between 1.21% and 6.9%.

Since January’s onset, miners have collected roughly $1.1 billion in fees and subsidies combined. From this amount, $120.46 million was derived from transaction fees, while block rewards contributed $977.7 million. Data from Jan. 26 shows Bitcoin’s hash price at approximately $79.23 per petahash per second (PH/s) per day. The hash price, which reflects the daily estimated earnings of 1 PH/s of hashing power, has dropped more than 23% from its monthly high of $103.77 per PH/s per day.

According to three-day figures, Foundry USA dominates as the leading pool with 152.23 EH/s, constituting 28.10% of the overall hashrate. Antpool follows with 139.92 EH/s (25.83% of the total), and Viabtc with 71.64 EH/s, representing 13.22% of the collective. Monthly data reveals Foundry holding 29.34% of the total hashrate, having mined 1,272 blocks out of the 4,336 found so far. As the network deals with the latest hashrate shifts, its ongoing resilience and adaptability to market dynamics remain evident.

The fluctuations in Bitcoin’s hashrate are significant for the network and its users, as they directly impact the security and efficiency of verifying transactions. A lower hashrate can lead to slower transaction processing times. These changes also affect miners’ profitability, as the difficulty of mining adjusts based on the total hashrate. As the fourth halving event looms only 12,370 blocks away, miners are intensifying their operations to secure the highest rewards before they are halved.

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