Difficulty of mining Bitcoin surpasses 50bn
The difficulty level of mining Bitcoin has surpassed 50bn for the first time, and continues to plateau. Bitcoin is mined using computer processing power, whereby computer's solve problems and are rewarded for their solving them with Bitcoin. However, the difficulty of solving these problems correlates with the total problem-solving power of the network, meaning the rate at which Bitcoin is mined generally slows over time, making the process of mining Bitcoin less profitable over time. A graph of the difficulty of mining Bitcoin over time can be found at the linked webpage.
The difficulty level of mining Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term, a metric that indicates how hard it is to discover the next hash in a given target range, has finally surpassed 50 billion for the first time.

The difficulty changes every 2016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, around mid-week. It is now at 51,076,366,303, and automatically projected to reach 51,969,383,096, although this can change.

Difficulty generally increases with time, although it occasionally dips. Changes roughly correlate with those in the total network Hash Rate Hash Rate A hash rate is the measure of a cryptocurrency miner’s performance and a key security metric. In the context of mining, the more hashing or computing power in a given network, the greater its security and its overall resistance to attackMining hashrate is a key security metric. The more hashing (computing) power in the network, the greater its security and its overall resistance to attack. Hash rate is also a measurement of the output of a device that is used to add transactions to a blockchain A hash rate is the measure of a cryptocurrency miner’s performance and a key security metric. In the context of mining, the more hashing or computing power in a given network, the greater its security and its overall resistance to attackMining hashrate is a key security metric. The more hashing (computing) power in the network, the greater its security and its overall resistance to attack. Hash rate is also a measurement of the output of a device that is used to add transactions to a blockchain Read this Term, the total hashing power of the network.

The hash rate is now roughly 360 PH/s (1 PH = 10^15 hashes, or encryption operations), and has stagnated for much of 2015 after exponential gains in years prior. This is a result of depressed bitcoin prices, which make it less profitable to add hardware to the network, as well as the fact that the network is now saturated with sufficient equipment to maintain equilibrium of slight profitability for most miners.

Likewise, the difficulty level has plateaued as well, sitting between 45 billion and 50 billion for the last five months.

There has been a slight uptick in the prevailing hash rate in recent days, a possible result of the rally in bitcoin prices. Should prices maintain a new floor near $300, we will likely see continued gradual appreciation in hashing power, with additional gains realized if the price rally continues.