Bitcoin mining complexity has set a new anti-record

Just two weeks ago, the difficulty of mining bitcoin increased by 13.55%. The growth did not stop — on October 23, after the next recalculation of the complexity, the indicator increased by another 3.4% to a new high of 36.84 Tx/s. The average hashrate has consolidated above 260 EH/s. The interval between blocks during the previous difficulty correction period was 9 minutes and 40 seconds.

According to Glassnode, the maximum value of the bitcoin network’s computing power was recorded on October 11 — over 266 EH/s. On October 23, the figure dropped to 261.6 EH/s.

Experts of the analytical company noted that the hash price reached a record level of $ 66,500 per 1 EH/s.

The #Bitcoin Hash Price has reached an all-time-low of $ 66,500 per Exahash.

This means that $BTC miners are earning the smallest reward relative to hashpower applied in history, and likely puts the industry under extreme revenue stress.

Live Chart: https://t.co/RQzSsh9FnF pic.twitter.com/ExfpR5sOOq

— glassnode (@glassnode) October 24, 2022

The complexity of BTC mining illustrates a bleak outlook for miners, as electricity costs will increase significantly and this will significantly reduce profits from cryptocurrency mining. As a reminder, bitcoin has been equated to oil production due to its significant impact on the environment. According to researchers, between 2016 and 2021, every dollar of bitcoin’s market value accounted for an average of $ 0.35 of global «climate damage.» «On this scale, bitcoin mining is in the range between beef production and crude oil burned as gasoline,» environmentalists and scientists say.