As a result of the latest adjustment mining difficulty for the first cryptocurrency fell by 5.01% — to 27.69 T. That marked the largest reduction in the indicator since the start of the year.
The last time such a large drop in difficulty was recorded in July 2021 amid the outflow of miners from China.
Average hash rate over roughly a two-week period since the previous adjustment stood at 198.15 EH/s. The network’s computational power has been declining since May.
As of July 21, the metric (a smoothed 7-day moving average) stood around 196 EH/s, according to Glassnode. The service notes that the hash rate reached its maximum on June 11 — 231 EH/s.
In June, Arcane Research analysts noted that mining profitability fell to 2020 levels. The rise in hash rate and difficulty could exert further negative pressure on miners’ financial performance, experts said at the time.
In June, public mining companies sold a total of 14,600 BTC, representing 23% of their aggregate reserves in the first cryptocurrency.
Prices for Bitcoin miners, adjusted for the hash rate generated, also fell to 2020 levels. Yet some companies seized the opportunity, notably CleanSpark, which bought around 3,000 devices at exclusively favourable prices.
The Bitcoin Mining Council notes that mining efficiency rose by 46% over the year. The hash rate over the period increased by 137%, and energy consumption by 63%.
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