Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increased this week on March 31, 2022, at block height 729,792 for the first time since February 17. The network’s difficulty jumped 4.31% higher bringing the metric to a lifetime high at 28.59 trillion. Since the increase, the network’s hashrate has been a bit more volatile dropping from 217 exahash per second (EH/s) on April 1, to today’s 175 EH/s.
On Thursday it has been more difficult to find a Bitcoin block. The difficulty adjusts 4.31% higher
Bitcoin has hit yet another milestone this week, as the network’s mining difficulty is the highest it has ever been, and that means it is currently the hardest point in history to find a bitcoin (BTC) block. Satoshi Nakamoto invented the mining difficulty in order to make sure that blocks were only ten minutes apart, and the difficulty adjustment algorithm(DAA) was updated every two weeks.
The term “mining difficulty” refers to how difficult it is for mining participants to find a block subsidy, otherwise known as a block reward. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is very important and keeps the network as consistent as possible. As new miners join the network, and hashrate rises, the DAA adjusts to make it more difficult for miners find block rewards.
If this happens and hashrate drops, the DAA level will fall lower. This would make it easier to aggregate the mining participants. Thursday’s 4.31% rise was the first in more than four weeks and only 2 DAA adjustments. Each 2016 block is adjusted by the DAA. As of the writing time, there are still 1,682 blocks to go before the April 13 retarget.
The next DAA adjustment is scheduled for April 13, and it is predicted to be a decrease. The hashrate, which has fluctuated between March 31 and the recent increase of 175.49EH/s since then, has shown six-month charts. Statistics on Saturday, April 2, show the hashrate’s 90-day average is roughly 195 EH/s.
F2pool, which has 18.91% or 37.19EH/s of global hashrate and is the leading miner according to three-day statistics, has taken the lead. Three-day metrics show that Foundry USA has 18.66% global havehrate, or 36.70EH/s, and Foundry USA as the second largest pool. F2pool discovered 76 blocks in three days, while Foundry USA found 75 blocks.
The difficulty’s lifetime high of 28.59 trillion makes it harder than ever before for all the mining pools to find a block reward. There are currently 11 mining pools that have computational power and 1.99% (or 3.91 EH/s) of global hashpower is held by unidentified mining entities.
The mining difficulty’s lifetime high also occurred a day before miners found the 19 millionth bitcoin at block height 730,034. Miners have found 19,000,592.18 BTC so far (at the time this article was written) and there is still 1,999,193.73 BTC to be issued.
What do you think about the network’s difficulty increasing 4.31% higher this week? Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.
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