Data shows the Bitcoin mining hashrate has hit another all-time high as miners continue to believe in the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin 7-Day Hashrate Hits New ATH Despite Struggling Price
The “mining hashrate” is an indicator that keeps track of the total amount of computing power that the miners have currently connected to the Bitcoin blockchain.
This metric can have a direct impact on the strength of the network’s security. This is because the more mining rigs are attached to the chain, the more difficult it is to perform a 51% attack.
This is only given, of course, that the hashrate is sufficiently decentralized. With the rise of large public miners, there have been concerns that the hashrate is increasingly becoming centralized, but the latest data has revealed that these public entities control just 28% of the global hashrate, which isn’t an alarming figure, at least not yet.
When the value of the hashrate goes up, it means that the miners are bringing more machines online on the network right now. Such a trend implies that these chain validators are finding the blockchain attractive currently.
On the other hand, the indicator going down suggests some of the miners are disconnecting from the chain, likely because they are finding the coin unprofitable to mine at the moment.
Now, here is a chart from Blockchain.com that displays the trend in the 7-day average Bitcoin mining hashrate over the past year:
The 7-day average value of the metric seems to have been heading up in recent days | Source: Blockchain.com
As shown in the above graph, the 7-day average Bitcoin mining hashrate has been steadily climbing up since January. During the first half of the year or so, BTC had enjoyed some sharp upward momentum, which may explain why the miners were willing to expand their facilities.
The revenues of these chain validators as a whole depend mainly on the price of the cryptocurrency, as the block rewards that they receive have a fixed value in BTC; it’s only their USD value that’s variable.
Thus, it’s often not surprising to see the hashrate shoot up in bullish periods, as the miners look to capitalize on the boosted revenues. In recent weeks, though, the coin has, in fact, been struggling, but these chain validators have nonetheless continued to connect more power to the network.
The indicator has been continuing to set new all-time highs in this period of growth, the latest of which was achieved just a couple of days ago. The individual revenue that a miner may earn doesn’t just depend on the BTC price, but also on the competition present among these chain validators.
The Bitcoin mining hashrate is essentially a representation of this competition, so the higher its value, the lesser the share of the rewards that each miner gets.
So, it would seem that despite the competition reaching an all-time high and the price registering a steep decline, these miners have remained resolute about the asset, as they have only continued to invest more into their mining facilities.
BTC Price
Bitcoin has been unable to restart a surge since its recent pullback as its price is continuing to float around the $27,700 level.
Looks like BTC hasn't moved much recently | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView
Featured image from Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com, Blockchain.com