- The jump in hash rate came in response to mining difficulties in reaching an ATH.
- Revenue collected by the miners as of April 11 was nearly $69 million, up 70% year-over-year.
Bitcoins [BTC] The hashrate rose to a new all-time high (ATH) on April 11 as miners turned their machines on full blast to increase revenue ahead of the halving.
The seven-day rolling average of the hash rate, used to measure the total computing power invested by miners, reached 642 exahashes per second (EH/s) on April 11, according to the Hashrate Index, representing a 5% increase over the course of this week.
Source: Hashrate index
Miners find it difficult to mine blocks
The increase in hash rate was a likely response to the latest adjustment that pushed Bitcoin’s mining woes to the ATH of 86.39 trillion.
Bitcoin’s difficulty reflects how difficult it is for miners to find the next Bitcoin block in the chain. It is adjusted every 2,016 blocks, or approximately two weeks, to ensure the block production time remains at 10 minutes. The higher the difficulty, the harder it is to find a block, and therefore more hash rate must be allocated.
This was the last adjustment before the crucial halving event, tentatively scheduled for April 2, which would cut mining rewards by half. In an industry with ever-shrinking profit margins, such events ultimately place significant financial pressure on participants.
What can you expect after the halving?
Hashrate index had previously estimated that halving would result in a 3.7% drop in hash rate, conservatively compared to Galaxy Digitals estimate of a decline of 15-20%.
Normally, smaller players with less capital to afford efficient mining equipment would be the first to capitulate.
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After struggling during the bear market, miners’ revenues have increased significantly since BTC started rising in value in October 2023.
Total revenue miners took in as of April 11 was nearly $69 million, according to AMBCrypto’s analysis of Glassnode data, up 70% from around the same time last year.
Source: Glassnode