From High Gear to Grind: Bitcoin Hashrate Drops 75 EH/s After Setting New Record
On May 31, Bitcoin's hashrate reached a record high of 943 exahashes per second (EH/s), but since then, the network's computing power has decreased by more than 75 EH/s in the last few days.
Bitcoin Block Time Slows Due to Sharp Increase in Mining Difficulty
Bitcoin miners ended May on a high note, recording their best gains since the fourth halving in mid-April 2024. On top of that, the network hashrate, also known as computing power, hit an all-time high of 943 exahashes per second (EH/s) on the last day of the month. Fast-forward a week, and the seven-day simple moving average (SMA) shows the hashrate has fallen to 868 EH/s, a loss of 75 EH/s.
Total SMA network hashrate for 7 days since May 31st according to hashrateindex.com.
The hashprice — effectively the daily price of one petahash per second (PH/s) — is still higher than it was a month ago, though it has fallen significantly since late May. It was hovering around $57.12 per PH/s on May 29, but has since fallen 7.53% to $52.82, according to data from hashrateindex.com. One likely factor? A difficulty adjustment that began on May 30 that pushed the mining difficulty to a record high of 126.98 trillion.
Bitcoin difficulty level according to hashrateindex.com.
A difficulty of 126.98 trillion means that Bitcoin miners must create a hash that is lower than 1 in 126.98 trillion possible results. As this number increases, so does the effort—mining a block requires more energy and computing power. Bitcoin’s built-in difficulty adjustment system helps maintain a steady rate of block creation by adjusting the difficulty every 2016 blocks in response to changes in the network’s hashing power.
As revenue per petahash (PH/s) declines and mining difficulty levels increase, Bitcoin miners face pressure from both sides. A decrease in PH/s revenue means that each unit of computing power yields less Bitcoin — or cash — which reduces overall revenue. At the same time, higher difficulty levels force miners to expend more energy and resources just to mine a single block. This combination reduces profitability, especially for those working on a tight budget or facing high electricity bills.
In simple terms, they are making less but spending more to stay in business. This is likely having a downward effect on the hash rate. The average time between blocks is currently around 10 minutes and 23 seconds, indicating that the 2,016 block cycle is moving slower than usual. If this slow pace continues, it could lead to a decrease in difficulty – and current projections point to a possible drop of 3.72% ahead.
Source: cryptonews.net
