Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty is set to see its biggest increase since January this year this week, after the hash rate on the network saw a notable spike in the past 11 days.
According to data from BTC.com, the estimate for the next difficulty adjustment – which is expected to take place on Wednesday – is +6.63%, which would take the indicator from 28.35T to 30.23T currently.
This would mark the biggest single move in the upward adjustment since January 21 this year, when the difficulty level increased by 9.32%.
If the difficulty level hits that threshold as expected this week, it would take Bitcoin’s mining difficulty to its third-highest all-time level. The all time high was 31.25T in May, and the second highest was 30.28T in June, after which the difficulty dropped again, according to data from BTC.com.
Bitcoin mining difficulty measures the degree of competition between network players for mining rewards. The difficulty level is automatically adjusted approximately every two weeks to ensure a 10-minute interval between each mined block.
The abrupt adjustment comes after the Bitcoin network’s hash rate – or the amount of computing power devoted to securing it – also increased significantly over the past 11 days. Compared to a low of 198.4 Ehash/s on August 8, the hashrate stood at 231.5 Ehash/s on Monday (based on a 7-day moving average), according to data from BitInfoCharts.
The expected upward adjustment will mark the third consecutive increase in difficulty for the Bitcoin network after seeing three consecutive reductions in June and July.
Most recent difficulty adjustments:
Along with the increase in difficulty and total hashrate, a decline in miner profitability has also been observed. According to BitInfoCharts, mining profitability has steadily declined since August 18, when it stood at $0.109 per THash/s (based on a 7-day moving average).
Since Monday, profitability has fallen to just $0.082 per THash/s.
BTC is currently trading around 19,800 USD. It is down 1% in one day and 8% in one month. In total, the price fell 17% in one month and 60% in one year.
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