Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has risen to its highest ever—a little over one week before the long-awaited halving event takes place.
Data from BTC.com shows that Bitcoin difficulty hit 86.39 trillion hashes yesterday. In simple terms, a hash is the process of turning data into code that cannot be deciphered using powerful computers. This proof-of-work mining model is necessary to keep the Bitcoin network running and secure.
Miners—those who mint new coins—generate hashes as part of the process. The longer the hash, the more computing power is needed to take part in mining. And the more computing power being used, the more secure the network.
Bitcoin’s difficulty rate has been gradually increasing since the start of the year—though there have been slight dips.
The improved security comes ahead of the halving: a quadrennial event that will cut Bitcoin miner rewards in half, from 6.25 BTC for each block they process to 3.125 BTC. It’s currently expected to take place on April 20.
This is expected to lead to greater scarcity in the amount of coins on the market. Miners will have to work harder, too, meaning that only the strongest and most efficient operations in the industry will be involved in keeping the network going.
And this is broadly considered good news—as the price of Bitcoin increases and more people flock to the network, the stronger it should be.
The price of Bitcoin now stands at just above $70,000 per coin, according to CoinGecko.
Edited by Andrew Hayward