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On Saturday, the Bitcoin network experienced its first difficulty reduction of the year, witnessing a 3.9% decrease at block height 826,560. As a result, the network’s mining difficulty now stands at 70.34 trillion, with the next adjustment anticipated on Feb. 4, 2024.
Mining bitcoin (BTC), the leading crypto asset in terms of market capitalization, has become slightly more feasible for miners following this recent difficulty modification. This change took place on Jan. 20, 2024, at block height 826,560, rendering the process of discovering a block reward 3.9% less challenging than during the preceding two weeks. Previously, the difficulty level was pegged at 73.19 trillion, but it has now declined to the present figure of 70.34 trillion.
The current difficulty of 70.34 trillion defines the maximum threshold for the hash of a block to be deemed valid. In essence, when the difficulty is set at 70.34 trillion, it implies that the hash of a valid block must not exceed a target number, which is exceedingly small compared to the full spectrum of potential hash values. The existing difficulty level will maintain its stance for a span of 2,016 blocks, typically a period of two weeks. The subsequent epoch is forecasted to unfold on or around Feb. 4, 2024.
On Jan. 20, approximately 51 different mining entities or pools are dedicating hash rate to the Bitcoin blockchain. Foundry USA wields the most might with 29.43% of the total hash rate over the past three days with 139.89 exahash per second (EH/s) of hash power. Antpool commands 22.49% of the aggregate commanding around 106.90 EH/s of SHA256 hashpower. Foundry’s and Antpool’s lead is followed by F2pool, Viabtc, and Binance Pool respectively.
Currently, the total hash rate hovers just below the 500 EH/s mark, registering 497 EH/s on Jan. 20, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. This figure is slightly below the seven-day simple moving average (SMA) of 547 EH/s, which was noted five days earlier on Jan. 15, 2024. This indicates that the network has experienced a reduction of approximately 50 EH/s in under a week. The decrease in hash power is primarily due to scaled-back operations in Texas, where mining businesses have reduced their activity to allow the grid to manage the extreme subzero temperatures impacting the state.
