SUMMARY

• Bitcoin’s hashrate exceeded 700 EH/s for the first time, reflecting a 6% rise in the past week.
• Mining profitability improved as hashprice topped $50 PH/s, driven by higher transaction fees and Bitcoin’s price surge.

The Bitcoin hashrate has surpassed 700 exahashes per second (EH/s) for the first time, accomplishing an all-time high of 703 EH/s, as detailed by Glassnode data. This breakthrough marks a noteworthy increment of 6% over the past week. The hashrate reflects the computational power utilized to mine and process transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. This surge is outstanding as the hashrate has developed by about 13% since the halving event in April, which cut the daily Bitcoin production from 900 to 450 BTC.

Publicly traded miners presently contribute significantly to the network’s hashrate, accounting for 28.9% in September, deciphering over 200 EH/s. This figure shows a month-over-month increment of about 10% since October 2022, demonstrating that public miners are relentlessly capturing more market share from smaller, less proficient operations. Analysts like Sebastian Ski highlight that leading miners such as CleanSpark, Marathon Digital Holdings, Riot Platforms, and IREN have risen as the most significant contributors to this growth.

Despite the capital-intensive nature of Bitcoin mining, which poses profitability challenges, efficient miners with low energy costs or vigorous money-related backing are likely to flourish. The industry’s competitive scene forces less proficient miners to exit, leading to increased consolidation among those capable of maintaining operations profitably.

The recent surge in Bitcoin’s price to around $68,000, coupled with rising transaction fees from expanded on-chain activity, has contributed to mining profitability. Bitcoin’s hashprice recently bounced to $50 per petahash per second (PH/s), the most noteworthy level since August, driven by the minting of the runes protocol, which accounted for over 50% of transaction fees on October 17.

The developing hashrate will likely trigger an adjustment in mining difficulty, scheduled to rise by over 4% on October 23. This alteration happens every 2,016 blocks to guarantee that blocks are mined consistently, maintaining a normal interval of 10 minutes. As the hashrate increases, it underscores the resilience and advancing nature of the Bitcoin mining ecosystem, exhibiting both opportunities and challenges as market dynamics shift.