The latest figures reveal that on Dec. 9, 2023, at block height 820,512, Bitcoin experienced a 0.96% decrease in its difficulty rating. This decline marks the first since Sept. 19, 2023, interrupting a streak of six successive difficulty hikes. Concurrently, Bitcoin’s total hashrate has shown a downward trend over the last six days.
Bitcoin Hashrate Declines Amidst First Difficulty Decrease Since Early Fall
For the first occasion in the past six adjustments, Bitcoin’s difficulty experienced a 0.96% reduction at block height 820,512. The current difficulty stands at 67.31 trillion and will remain so for the forthcoming 12 days, until Dec. 23, 2023. Although this decrease is beneficial for miners, simplifying the process of finding a block reward by 0.96%, it hasn’t led to an increase in the hashrate.
Contrarily, the hashrate began its decline a few days prior to the recent adjustment. On Dec. 4, 2023, the seven-day average hashrate was at 507 exahash per second (EH/s). As per the latest data on Dec. 11, 2023, the average has settled at 472 EH/s, marking a 6.9% fall in just three days.
The current hash price falls short of the peak reached on Dec. 6, 2023. Back then, the rate for petahash per second (PH/s) each day exceeded $111 per PH/s. Now, the seven-day average indicates a decline to $88.41 per PH/s, amounting to a reduction of over 20%.
In the context of the recent dip in difficulty and the hash price downturn, bitcoin (BTC) miners are looking at 19,135 blocks remaining until the next major milestone, known as the halving. This event, anticipated to occur around April 20, 2024, will slash the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.
As Bitcoin navigates through these fluctuations in difficulty and hashrate, miners are eyeing the impending halving with keen interest. The anticipated reduction in block subsidy rewards sets a significant turning point for the network.
