On Christmas Day, Bitcoin‘s mining hash rate reached an all-time high of 544 exahash per second (EH/s), as reported by Blockchain.com. This milestone comes despite a downturn in miners’ earnings, increasing pressure on their operations. The hash rate, a measure of the processing power of the Bitcoin network, has more than doubled since January, showing a 130% increase.
The record-breaking hash rate was confirmed by Bitinfocharts, a blockchain data analytics platform, which noted the average hash rate peaked over the weekend. In the same period, Bitcoin’s price mirrored the hash rate chart, climbing over 150% since January 1, 2023. The network’s hash rate first surpassed the 500 EH/s mark at the end of November.
Will Clemente, co-founder of Reflexivity Research, commented on the resilience of the Bitcoin network, particularly following the Chinese mining ban in the summer of 2021, highlighting the robustness of the world’s most secure decentralized open-source monetary network.
While a high hash rate is theoretically good for price models that consider the cost of hashing, it’s not necessarily positive news for miners who have to work harder to secure the next block. The hash price, an indicator of profitability, has fallen over the past week due to a decline in the momentum of BRC-20 inscriptions hype. According to HashrateIndex, the current hash price is $0.09 per terahash per second.
Miners’ profitability has dropped by 34% since reaching 2023’s highest level of $0.136/TH/s on December 17. Hash price typically rises during high demand periods, leading to higher transaction fees, as seen during the recent inscriptions hype. Glassnode analyst Checkmatey noted the sustained high fee pressure since February, which has kept Bitcoin mempools from clearing completely for almost a year.
Despite the challenges faced by miners, the Bitcoin network continues to grow stronger, as evidenced by the soaring hash rate and resilient infrastructure capable of withstanding regulatory pressures and market fluctuations.