Bitcoin’s hashrate fell to 58.7971 exa hashes per second on Sunday — the lowest point since August 2019 — according to data from Blockchain.com. It had ticked up to 86.205EH/s by press time.
Fast facts:
- After hitting a peak of 171.3989EH/s in mid-May, Bitcoin’s hashrate has continued to decline rapidly as many regions in China have cracked down on mining activity. For instance, the hashrate fell from 112.625 EH/s to 91.2189Eh/s two weeks ago after mining was banned in the Chinese province of Sichuan.
- Although it’s significant, the hashrate decline should not be that surprising, as according to analysis by Compassmining.io, Bitcoin’s hashrate has generally followed its price, which itself has fallen more than 50% from its all-time high in April of US$64,829.14. It was trading at US$34,822.52 at press time.
- The hashrate of bitcoin refers to the level of computing power required to mine and process transactions — or secure — a proof-of-work blockchain network. The lower the hashrate is, the greater the likely number of Bitcoins earned daily per unit of computing power.
- Bitcoin’s mining difficulty, a measure of how difficult is it to verify transactions on the block, is adjusted every 2,016 blocks. Analysis from Glassnode.com suggests the difficulty adjustment could be as low as negative 25% at the next reset on July 3.