Bitcoin mining difficulty hits a new high

In another recalculation of the mining difficulty for the first cryptocurrency, a new high was reached at 35.61 T. The 13.55% rise was the largest since May 2021.

The average hash rate over roughly a two-week period since the previous adjustment of the indicator stood at 254.8 EH/s, the block interval — less than 9 minutes instead of the protocol’s 10 minutes.

According to Glassnode, the network hash rate (smoothed 7-day moving average) is near the record level of 257.9 EH/s, recorded on October 6.

Among Bitcoin pools, leadership by share of compute power in the network remains Foundry USA (29.34%). In second and third places since the previous difficulty adjustment are AntPool (20.67%) and F2Pool (13.78%).

Poolin, which had liquidity problems in early September, slipped to eighth place with 2.36%.

In June, Arcane Research analysts noted that miners’ cash flow decreased by 80% compared with the November 2021 peak — to levels from two years ago. In addition to price stagnation, profitability of Bitcoin mining was negatively affected by the rise in hash rate and, accordingly, the difficulty, the experts noted.

Back in September, anticipated a drop in the price of digital gold to $10,350. According to Glassnode, the breakeven level of Bitcoin mining is $18,300. If the price falls below this level, miners’ reserves of 78,400 BTC would be at risk of liquidation.

In June publicly traded companies in the industry for the first time sold more cryptocurrency than they mined. In July the trend continued.

Arcane Research analysts concluded that exchange-listed miners maintain a sound financial position, despite unrealized losses on their balance sheets.

Back in September, bankruptcy filing by the private mining company Compute North.

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