Mining of #bitcoin reaches record difficulty: 5.07% increase in block 818,496
The Bitcoin network recently reached a significant milestone regarding the difficulty level of mining a new block. In particular, according to statistics from Bitcoin Blockchain Explorer , BTC underwent a mining difficulty adjustment at block height 818,496. This adjustment increased mining difficulty by 5.07%, reaching a new maximum of 67.96 tera-hashes per second.
Significantly, the recent adjustment suggests that mining new blocks is now 5.07% more challenging than the previous adjustment period on November 12th. This is because the network's hash rate, which measures the total computing power dedicated to Bitcoin mining, has increased. According to Bitcoin Explorer, the current average hash rate for the entire network now stands at 504.8 exa-hashes per second (EH/s), compared to 486.50 EH/s recorded fourteen days ago.
It is important to note that mining difficulty adjustments occur regularly to maintain a consistent rate of adding blocks to the blockchain, typically every 10 minutes for Bitcoin. When more miners join the network, the difficulty of maintaining this deadline increases and, conversely, if miners leave, the difficulty decreases.
Emphatically, a higher hash rate intensifies the challenge of mining new blocks as it results in greater competition to solve the cryptographic puzzle required for block creation. Notably, Bitcoin's next mining difficulty adjustment will occur on December 10, at block height 820,512.
Earlier this month, the Bitcoin network encountered a significant temporary outage in block production, marked by a notable pause lasting over an hour. According to Bitcoin's dedicated blockchain explorer, a delay occurred on November 7th during which the network did not produce a block between 4:47 pm and 5:56 pm (UTC+8).
