Bitcoin Difficulty Increases by 3.55%
If you’re involved in the quest to mine a bitcoin (BTC) block reward, you’ll face unprecedented difficulty after the latest adjustment at block height 816,480. The adjustment brought about a 3.55% increase, marking the fifth consecutive rise in network difficulty since September 19. This escalation follows a series of increases, starting with a 5.48% rise on September 19, a slight 0.35% uptick on October 3, a significant 6.47% surge on October 16, and a 2.35% increase on October 29.
The current Bitcoin difficulty level has surpassed the 64 trillion mark, reflecting the intense computational power required to generate a hash that falls below a specific threshold. This highly competitive mining landscape demands vast amounts of processing work to earn BTC block rewards, recalibrated every 2,016 blocks to maintain an average interval of about ten minutes per block.
Over the last three months, BTC’s hashrate has maintained an average of 423.1 exahash per second (EH/s). As of November 12, the seven-day simple moving average (SMA) indicates a hashrate of approximately 461 EH/s from 46 distinct mining pools contributing their computational power to the Bitcoin network.
Approximately 23,500 blocks remain until the anticipated next halving epoch forecasted for April 20, 2024. Bitcoin mining profitability rose in October and continued upward through November, buoyed by an increase in Bitcoin’s value and higher transaction fees.
Hot Take
Bitcoin’s next difficulty change is estimated to occur on November 25, 2023.