Bitcoin’s mining ecosystem has reached record levels of difficulty as hashrate hits new highs and the price rises. On December 16, mining difficulty increased by 4.43% to an all-time high of 108.52 trillion at block height 874,944. This marks the sixth consecutive upward increase in mining difficulty and the 26th adjustment this year.
The total mining difficulty has risen by 40% this year alone, according to Cloverpool data. The hashrate, which measures the total computational power securing the network, is also on the rise. Over the past month, the network’s mean hashrate consistently exceeded 800 exahashes per second (EH/s), but was at 707 EH/s as of December 15, according to CryptoQuant data.
A higher hashrate strengthens the network’s security, but it also increases mining complexity. As a result, miners must now invest in advanced, energy-efficient technology to remain viable in this increasingly challenging landscape. Miners have been selling off portions of their Bitcoin holdings to cover rising operational costs.
According to crypto analyst JA Maarturn, on-chain data shows that Bitcoin miner reserves have dropped by 4.74% over the past year, decreasing from 1.99 million BTC to 1.9 million.
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