all about cryptop referances
While bitcoin prices are hovering just below the $22K mark, the leading crypto-asset is still down more than 9% against the US dollar over the past two weeks. Despite the lower prices, Bitcoin’s hash rate has jumped significantly recently and the block intervals have increased a lot. The trend suggests that when the blockchain network difficulty changes four days from now, the shift could increase significantly higher as estimates show a change of 4.43% to 10.3%.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s hash rate is running hot at 282.21 exahash per second (EH/s), which is only 3.35% lower than the network’s all-time high (ATH) recorded on June 8, 2022, at block height 739,928. The hash rate has increased a lot even though the price has fallen 9% against the US dollar in 14 days and the mining difficulty has doubled since August 4, 2022.
The crypto community has noticed the increased pace as the block interval frequency (the time measured between each mined block) has increased. On Thursday, Blocksbridge Consulting tweeted about the blocking interval and said that the company expected a high degree of difficulty during the next shift.
“The average bitcoin block interval between the current high (751055) and the last diff epoch (749952) is approximately 9.18 minutes,” Blocksbridge Consulting wrote Thursday. “Expect a significant difficulty jump in less than 6 days.”
Furthermore, current statistics indicate that the blocking interval time has dropped even lower and is 9:04 minutes at the time of writing. With the current data, the next retarget date is expected to occur on August 31, 2022, with a possible increase of 10.3%. An increase of 10% or more will make it much more difficult for miners to discover block rewards.
Not all difficulty and hashrate statistics are equal, and because it is more difficult to measure in real time, estimates via btc.com’s difficulty page indicate a difficulty of 4.43% in four days. Whether it’s 4% or 10%, both are significantly larger than the last two difficulty increases since August 4th.
At current hashrate speeds, the likelihood of an increase is certainly in the cards. Data shows that since yesterday, August 25, Bitcoin’s hash rate has increased by 44% in the last 24 hours. The rise has increased the likelihood that the network’s hashrate will see another ATH in the near future.
What do you think about Bitcoin’s recent hash rate increase and the chance of a significant difficulty increase within four days? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
Image credit: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or an endorsement or recommendation of products, services or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
