Shortly after surging past $9,000 to hit its highest price for 2019, the cryptocurrency’s mining difficulty increased by 11.26 percent to 7.46 trillion, setting an all-time high for the network. The previous record came in October, 2018, when the difficulty rose to 7.45 trillion. Bitcoin’s hashrate also continues to grow steadily, currently standing at 53.36 EH/s – a good indication that the network is in a healthy state.
The development marks the highest hike in difficulty since December, 2018, when the network experienced a 10.03-percent increase in difficulty. For those unfamiliar, mining difficulty is adjusted each 2,016 blocks to ensure the rate at which new blocks are created remains relatively constant – at about one block per 10 minutes. Interestingly, the next difficulty adjustment is estimated to be 8.25 trillion. If the estimate turns out to be accurate, it would be a new record for Bitcoin’s blockchain. If the network’s hashrate maintains its upward trend, it’s very likely that Bitcoin will hit a new all-time high during its next difficulty adjustment. I guess we’ll have to wait another two weeks to find out (that’s approximately how long it takes for the network to mine 2,016 blocks at a rate of 10 minutes each). In the meantime, though, things are looking peachy for Bitcoin. [H/T Kevin Rooke]
