This is a guest post from Voyager, a crypto brokerage firm with a commission-free trading app.
11 years ago, the first Bitcoin (BTC) was mined. Today, more than 18 million of the 21 million total Bitcoin are in circulation, and more miners are contributing to the network than ever.
Bitcoin’s hash rate has steadily increased over the last 12-months, and just days in 2020, it reached previously unseen levels. On Thursday evening, Bitcoin’s hash rate hit a record high of 120 quintillion hashes per second on Blockchain.com.
Good for Bitcoin
In short, the hash rate measures the speed of Bitcoin miners. As Bitcoins are created, each block is “hashed” or verified before it’s added to the blockchain. For this to happen, a computer needs to crack a complex mathematical equation. The hash rate measures the number of times per second the network attempts to complete this equation.
A high hash rate makes the network more secure, protecting it from the threat of a 51-percent attack. It also shows that miners are doubling down, investing more power to produce more Bitcoin, despite recent price declines.
Market Rebounds
Some analysts believe that Bitcoin’s price will rise as hash rates continue to increase, pointing to the positive correlation between the two in previous bull runs. Following this week’s all-time high, BTC spiked 7% in just a few hours. After dropping to a low of $6,873 on Voyager, Bitcoin recovered its losses, hitting a high of $7,365 Friday morning.
It’s too soon to tell if the increased hash rate is to blame for Bitcoin’s price spike, but either way, it signals increased interest from miners and piles extra pressure on BTC to be profitable.
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The original Voyager post can be found here. You can earn $25 in BTC by signing up for the Voyager app and trading $100 (or use code SLUDGE25).
