Bitcoin mining difficulty reached an all-time high (ATH) on February 24, 2023 at block #778,176, reaching 43.05 trillion hashes and breaking the 40 trillion mark for the first time. in the history. Network difficulty increased by 9.95%, which is the second largest increase this year, as Bitcoin registered a combined increase of 24.89% over the last 60 days.
Network Participants Face Longer Block Times Following Recent Difficulty Change
It’s never been harder for mine Bitcoin (BTC) than it is today, as miners have experienced a 9.95% difficulty increase in the height of block #778.176. Now and for the next two weeks, or about 2,016 blocks, the difficulty will be 43.05 trillion. The network’s average hashrate over the last 2016 blocks was approximately 305.8 exhash per second (EH/s).
He 9.95% increase Friday was the second largest jump in difficulty this year, as the largest was recorded on January 15, 2023, at block #772,128. At that time, the difficulty increased by 10.26% more than the previous difficulty metric. The next difficulty change is scheduled for on or about March 9, 2023, and currently, block times have been much longer than the 10-minute average.
The average block time before the difficulty change on Friday was around 9 minutes and 11 seconds, and today, block times are between 12 and 14 minutes long. The longer block time shows that the recent difficulty change has slowed down miners. On Saturday, February 25, 2023, the global hash rate of the network fluctuates between 294.91 EH/s and 238.44 EH/s.
On Saturday, the largest mining pool in terms of hashrate it is Foundry USA with 103.18 EH/s or 34.88% of the total hashpower of the network. Foundry is followed by Antpool, which commands 15.81% of the total or roughly 46.77 EH/s of hashpower. Foundry and Antpool are followed by F2pool, Binance Pool, and Viabtc, respectively. In the last three days, 13 known pools and 15.13 EH/s of unknown hash power collectively discovered 430 blocks in total.
What do you think about the difficulty of the Bitcoin network to reach a new ATH above the 40 trillion mark? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
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