Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Sets New High after Record Hashrate

Bitcoin’s mining difficulty, a measure of competition for block rewards, has reached a new all-time high following days of increased hashrate.

Network data shows the difficulty level adjusted early Thursday UTC to 92.7 trillion, up 3.6% and surpassing the previous record of 90.67 trillion set on July 31.

The record difficulty follows a period of rising average hashrate, which briefly touched an all-time high of 700 EH/s earlier this week, despite bitcoin’s hashprice remaining stuck around $40/PH/s.

Following the record difficulty, bitcoin’s hashprice has again dipped below $39/PH/s, according to data from Hashrate Index. However, it has not yet reached the all-time low of $35.7/PH/s.

Thursday’s adjustment marks the third time bitcoin’s mining difficulty has set a new record within five months of the halving, suggesting the industry is consolidating.

The network saw its lowest difficulty level of 79.50 trillion in early July, an 8% decrease from the level before the halving. For comparison, the mining difficulty fell by 14.7% following the 2020 halving.