Bitcoin sees its hash rate rising to new ATH amid plunging prices

On Thursday, the hash rate of the largest cryptocurrency in the world, Bitcoin, has marked a new all-time high of 258 EH/s. This happened amid the plummeting price of the token, which is struggling to cross the $40,000 mark.

Increasing miners results in an increased hash rate

The ongoing uptrend of the hash rate clearly implies the increasing number of miners on the Bitcoin blockchain. The network hash rate has increased by more than 400% since the Chinese government’s heavy crackdown on miners last year. The figure fell below 70 EH/s at the time. As per a study from October last year, the United States accounts for the highest global Bitcoin hash rate, notably 35.4% of the total.

By the end of 2021, the Bitcoin network had recovered from a severe hash rate dip and was only growing in 2022. According to TheCoinRise, the network reached a recent ATH of 248.11 EH/s in February of this year.

The mining difficulty on the Bitcoin network has also increased to new historic highs, reaching 29.70 trillion. The mining difficulty is modified to maintain a 10-minute block generation time. More miners are fighting against each other to mine the next block as the mining difficulty rises.

Making it greener

Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by 5% on April 27, according to BTC.com, and has witnessed three positive re-adjustments and two negative ones in 2022. On May 10, the next difficulty adjustment will take place.

The Bitcoin network has withstood the test of time and a slew of regulatory attacks. The increase in mining difficulty and network hash rate also comes at a time when there is a strong push to switch Bitcoin’s mining consensus from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.

Greenpeace, along with other climate organizations and Chris Larsen, co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple (XRP), has launched a new campaign targeted at transforming Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism to one that is more ecologically friendly. Core Bitcoin supporters, on the other hand, continue to support the current mining system because it provides true decentralization.