The Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate spiked to all-time highs of 398 exahash on March 23, and analysts have been speculating that miners are beginning to turn their rigs back on as the price of Bitcoin rises.
According According to data aggregator YCharts, the Bitcoin network hash rate dropped to 344.63 on March 27, up from 335.32 on March 26, but still higher than 178.77. from a year ago.
On a March 26 mailSam Wouters, a research analyst at Bitcoin (BTC) financial services provider River Financial, speculated that the increase in hash rate is related to unused mining inventory coming online, new facilities coming online, march and entrepreneurs who find cheap sources of mining.
Bitcoin hashrate touched 400 Exahash. At the current growth rate in 2023, we would reach a Zettahash by the end of 2025.
I get questions and concerns from people.
Where does the growth come from? Are they nation-states? Secret mining operations? Has anyone found any exploits? pic.twitter.com/MMWfgPbqty
—Sam Wouters (@SDWouters) March 27, 2023
“Even though the price of Bitcoin was so low and as much inventory as possible was brought online last year, at some point the maximum capacity of what the network could handle was reached,” he said.
“Now that the price has gone back up and some time has passed, more of this inventory has been able to come online,” Wouters added.
Additionally, Wouters says that Hydro models are starting to enter the market and have “over 250 TH/s per machine, which adds up to a tremendous hash rate.”
a March 20 analysis from investment banking company Stifel shared a similar sentiment, speculating that the recent spike could be related to miners bringing hardware back online.
“We anticipate that the overall network hash rate will continue to increase as a result of well-capitalized miners purchasing attractively priced hardware.”
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Nazar Khan of Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf explained that the company is currently maxing out the hash rate of all of its rigs and has recently brought more online on its new Nautilus Cryptomine facility.
“Wulf has an opportunity to add 80 MW of capacity at LMD and 50 MW at Nautilus. The recent price movement is an indication of the long-term value of capacity to expand into low-cost power sites,” Khan said.
Great start to the morning at the #NuclearPowered #Nautilus installation ⛏ Starting the week clean and green pic.twitter.com/XY9XFeUloF
—TeraWulf (@TeraWulfInc) March 20, 2023
According to Khan, while some have speculated that lower prices forced miners to shut down their rigs and wait for the BTC price to improve, TeraWulf was able to continue selling bitcoin at lower price levels due to lost mining costs. “efficient mining fleets”.
Related: Crypto miner explains how Bitcoin mining stabilizes networks
However, regardless of the reason for the increase, Khan says that TeraWulf does not expect the network’s hash rate to continue to increase during the first half of the year, regardless of the BTC price.
“There is a lag between when investment decisions are made and bringing capacity online,” Khan explained.
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