Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Rises by 3.12%

Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by 3.12%, reaching 136.61 T.

On May 15, following the latest adjustment, the mining difficulty of the leading cryptocurrency increased by 3.12%, reaching 136.61 T.

This metric is approximately 8% lower than at the start of the year and more than 12% below the historical peak of 155.97 T recorded in October.

This year, difficulty has increased in only four out of ten adjustments. At the time of the latest change, the hash rate exceeded 1 ZH/s for the first time since February.

According to Glassnode, the smoothed 7-day moving average of the network’s computational power is around 994.6 EH/s. 

Among mining pools, Foundry USA leads with a 28.7% share of the global hash rate, followed by AntPool (17.2%) and ViaBTC (11.3%).

TheMinerMag calculated that in the first quarter, the mining capacity of the top 10 public companies in the industry slightly decreased from 297 EH/s to 291 EH/s.

However, experts noted a significant redistribution of hash rate behind this relative stability. Core Scientific, IREN, Cipher Digital, TeraWulf, and Keel Infrastructure sharply reduced their shares, actively diversifying towards AI services. Conversely, Bitdeer, MARA, and American Bitcoin aggressively expanded, occupying the vacated space in the mining market.

According to Hashrate Index, amid the rising difficulty, the hash price fell to ~$36.6 per PH/s per day. Additional pressure on the primary profitability metric of mining was exerted by Bitcoin’s drop below $80,000. Over the past day, the asset’s price decreased by ~2.4% (CMC).

In March, Wintermute experts stated that the traditional business model of miners is becoming obsolete due to declining profitability.