30s Summary

Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached a record 100T following a 7-day average network high of 755 EH/s. This uptick increases pressure on smaller miners who lack sufficient funds for sustaining operations. The recent increase marks the 23rd adjustment this year, primarily making the process more difficult. The increased difficulty may precipitate smaller firms selling Bitcoin to maintain operations. Simultaneously, the industry’s hashrate records a seven-day average high reinforcing increased miner activity. Despite the harrowing hike, miners currently mining around 450 Bitcoin per day are in fair shape due to less money spent on mined supply reducing sell-side pressure.

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Bitcoin mining difficulty has hit a record high of over 100T for the first time. The network’s seven-day average reached an all-time peak of 755 EH/s. Unfortunately, these higher difficulties put more pressure on smaller miners, who don’t have as much cash as the bigger miners to continue their mining operations.

In simpler terms, the ‘mining difficulty’ metric determines how hard finding new blocks on the Bitcoin network is. This difficulty adjusts automatically every 2,016 blocks, or approximately every two weeks. To date, the difficulty has adjusted 23 times this year, and more than half the time, it’s made the process tougher. As a result, the mining industry is under more strain to generate a block.

Because Bitcoin mining is so competitive and needs a major financial investment, smaller firms may struggle more than their larger, publicly traded rivals. These smaller firms might need to sell their Bitcoin to fund operations, due to their limited access to cash.

As for the industry’s hashrate, which measures the computational power needed to mine and process transactions on Bitcoin’s network, it hit a record seven-day average high of 755 EH/s. In simpler terms, a high hashrate means more computational power is being dedicated to the network, reflecting more miner activity.

At the end of October, there was a near 12% surge in hashrate in just one day, marking one of the most substantial increases this year. Miners are currently mining around 450 Bitcoin per day on average. Selling all of these would add roughly $31.5 million worth of sell-side pressure. However, miners are in fairly good shape as less money spent on mined supply means less sell-side pressure.