Bitcoin (BTC) expanded its hashrate just as prices were picking up. Mining activity bounced off 86 EH/s, and within a couple of days had reached above 111 EH/s. This all-time peak arrives just months after the previous record at 110 EH/s.
Miners ramped up their activity as BTC prices started to grow more bullish. One of the reasons is the difficulty recalculation last week, which only added 0.56% to the hardness of hash generation.
This meant miners had a higher chance of solving a block. Curbing mining activity ahead of difficulty recalculations helps slow down the growth of requirements. But at that pace, in eight days, the difficulty may be about 3.5% higher.
Miners have about 145 days until the block reward is cut by half, to a total of 900 BTC per day. The event is bringing out as much hashing power as possible, to reap the last rewards of 1,800 BTC per day.
Mining BTC is seen as an encouraging sign, as prices moved into a range that is seen as favorable for miners. But miners also suggest a hope in the future of BTC, as activity slowed down dramatically during early 2019. At BTC prices of $3,200 for the 2018 lows, miners were showing signs of capitulation.
It is also possible the real hashrate is higher, and only the measurement puts it at 111 EH/s. Other estimates see the all-time record at 120 EH/s achieved in October.
BTC traded at $7,573.17, with robust volumes above $26 billion’s equivalent in 24 hours. At that rate, an Antminer S9 ASIC is still losing money, but depending on the time of investment and electricity cost, could also become profitable.
BTC, for now, has seen a slowdown in cloud mining, as small pools can barely compete with the four largest block producers. Poolin and F2Pool share the leadership in producing around a third of all blocks.
