The computing power or hash rate of Bitcoin, the most powerful blockchain network in the world, has recently reached a new all-time high.
Bitcoin miners continue to add new equipment to the blockchain network, despite the fact that the price of this cryptocurrency on the market has suffered great volatility and profits from mining BTC have fallen 19,4% so far this year.
According to data from the Blockchain.com platform, Bitcoin's hash rate hit a new all-time high of 227 exahashes per second (EH/s) this week, while the network mining difficulty was adjusted to 29,8 trillion (T) for the first time.
It may interest you: Riot Blockchain to boost Bitcoin mining by adding 1 GW of power from Texas
Bitcoin hash rate rises to 227 EH/s
Bitcoin's hash rate has grown 170% since last July, when the Chinese government began to impose restrictions on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
By then, China was the leading computing power on the network, concentrating more than 70% of Bitcoin’s hash rate within its territory. However, the country’s strict restrictions, which banned all activities related to crypto assets, forced large mining farms to relocate to other jurisdictions. In the process, companies disconnected their mining equipment, which plummeted the network’s hash rate below 84 EH/s.
Source: Blockchain.com
Now, in addition to the increase in the hash rate, the Bitcoin network has also increased its mining difficulty. This metric, which ensures that blocks are mined in the time determined by the protocol, approximately every 10 minutes, is directly related to the computational power of the network and is automatically adjusted every 2.016 blocks mined in Bitcoin.
Thus, if Bitcoin's computing power or hash rate increases, so does the mining difficulty.
Source: Blockchain.com
Bitcoin miners earned $1.160 billion in April
Bitcoin mining has become a very lucrative activity for many companies, and even for independent miners, despite the increase in the network's mining difficulty.
Blockchain analysis platform The Block Research shows that last April Bitcoin miners generated profits of around $1.160 billion. 1,1% of this value came from commission fees paid by users to network miners to process transactions, leaving 98,9%, or $1.140 billion, as rewards for validating blocks and contributing to the security and stability of the network.
Source: The Block Research
However, according to on-chain data, miner earnings have fallen by more than 19% so far in 2022.
By the end of December 2021, Bitcoin miners generated $1.420 billion in rewards for validating blocks, while commission fees added another $19,2 million to miners’ earnings in the same month.
6,25 BTC block reward
Although the current block reward in Bitcoin is 6,25 BTC, the network is just under 2 years away from its fourth halving, an event designed to decrease the rate of Bitcoin issuance by splitting the block reward in half.
The next Bitcoin halving, which ensures that bitcoins are mined as set out in the network protocol, is expected at block height 787.500, which will occur around 2024.
The United States leads the Bitcoin hash rate
On the other hand, the mining map created by the Centre for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge, indicates that 42,7% of Bitcoin's hash power is currently concentrated in the United States. This is thanks to the fact that a large part of the network's miners went to the North American country after the restrictions imposed by China.
To date, companies such as Marathon Patent Group, Riot Blockchain, Argo Blockchain and Cipher Mining Technologies are some of those that have begun to build new mining facilities to expand their operations in the country. In Texas, the mining company Riot Blockchain has started a project to expand its operational capacity to a total of 1,7 gigawatts (GW) in the next 2 years.
Continue reading: The use of renewable energy in Bitcoin mining grows by almost 60% in one year
