The difficulty level on the Bitcoin network decreased by 10.09 percent in the last adjustment. According to Galaxy Research data, with this change in block number 953,568, the mining difficulty decreased from 138.96 trillion to 124.93 trillion. The adjustment in question was recorded as the second largest decrease this year.
Reasons for the decline in hash rate
According to the research, the first reason for the sharp decline in the hash rate on the network was the price weakness seen in early June. The approximately 15 percent decline in Bitcoin price has significantly narrowed the profit margins of miners, especially those working under high cost pressure. It was reported that some operators disabled their old generation devices during this process.
Galaxy Research stated that the price drop of approximately 15 percent in June put serious pressure on miners’ margins, and therefore some hashrate on the network went offline.
In addition to cost pressure, another factor affecting the sector stands out. It is stated that electricity capacity is gradually moving away from Bitcoin mining and towards high-performance computing and artificial intelligence data centers. This change can be especially effective in resource planning for large-scale facilities.
Mini dictionary: Hash rate refers to the total processing power of miners working on the Bitcoin network. High-performance computing describes the infrastructure used in processing-intensive areas such as scientific computing, big data analysis and artificial intelligence training.
Network speed and block time exceeded target
The increase in mining power has also directly affected the operating speed of the network. Due to the recent decline, the previous challenge period lasted 15.6 days, exceeding the standard 14-day period targeted on the Bitcoin network. In Bitcoin, difficulty adjustments are made in cycles of 2,016 blocks.
The current average block time is 13.23 minutes. This shows that the network was operating 3.23 minutes behind the expected speed. It was stated that the data is based on daily difficulty averages and that the network uses the SHA 256 algorithm.
Short-term relief expected for miners
The average change in the last 90 days was minus 13.86 percent. However, it is considered that the last 10.09 percent adjustment may provide some relief for miners still operating. EnergyMag reported that this change is expected to increase BTC production per active hashrate by over 9 percent.
It is also stated that this development may raise the hash price in mining again above the threshold of 30 dollars per PH/s. Hash price is among the key indicators that show the estimated daily income miners receive from a certain processing power.
The next difficulty adjustment is expected to occur on Thursday. Current forecasts point to a 24.43 percent chance of an additional decline in the new adjustment. In such a scenario, Bitcoin mining difficulty could decrease from 124.93 trillion to 94.41 trillion.
