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The last two changes to the mining difficulty on the Bitcoin network have brought the difficulty to an all-time high, causing a decrease in hash rate and block interval speed. Before the latest difficulty retarget increase of 4.68%, block intervals were faster than the 10 minute average, at about 8 minutes 54 seconds to 9 minutes 31 seconds. However, since the change, blocking times have decreased, with statistics showing durations of 10 minutes 44 seconds to 10 minutes 36 seconds.
The next change in mining difficulty is scheduled for February 12, 2023. At the time of writing, calculations indicate that the difficulty could drop as low as 5.6% below the current rate. The decrease in estimated Bitcoin mining difficulty is due to slower than average block intervals. Prior to the last two difficulty increases, block times were faster, leading to the increases. Currently, data shows that block times have decreased since the last difficulty change, with times ranging from 10 minutes 44 seconds to 10 minutes 36 seconds.
Bitcoin’s hash rate has been below average, averaging 279 exahashes per second (EH/s) over the past 2016 blocks. Starting at. 11:30 ET on February 4, 2023, the statistics show the hashrate at 258 EH/s. On February 1, 2023, the total hashrate dropped to 217 EH/s after reaching a peak of 279 EH/s the previous day. The hash rate then increased, reaching 309 EH/s on February 2, before falling 16.50% to today’s level of 258 EH/s.
As of Saturday, the top Bitcoin mining pool is Foundry USA, with 90.61 exahashes per second (EH/s) or 33.4% of the total hashrate. Foundry is followed by Antpool (18.14%), F2pool (14.08%), Binance Pool (13.13%) and Viabtc (9.07%). Thirteen known Bitcoin mining pools contribute hashrate to the blockchain, while unknown miners, known as stealth miners, control 1.67% of the hashrate, or 4.53 EH/s. If the decrease in block intervals results in a difficulty reduction eight days from now, miners will get a two-week reprieve from the all-time high difficulty.
What impact will the drop in Bitcoin’s mining difficulty have on the cryptocurrency’s overall network and hashrate? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
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