Bitcoin Miners Hit With Record Difficulty as Profitability Drops

 

Work just became harder for Bitcoin (BTC) miners, as mining difficulty hit another all-time high (ATH), once again cutting into the already decreasing profit margins of miners. 

The Bitcoin mining difficulty, or the measure of how hard it is to compete for mining rewards, jumped 4.89%, reaching 31.25 T

This rise follows a nearly 5.6% increase seen two weeks ago when the difficulty reached the 29 T range for the first time in the network’s history. 

Meanwhile, Bitcoin hashrate, or the computational power of the network, has remained almost unchanged. 

In the same time period, however, Bitcoin mining profitability saw a much larger drop, falling nearly 13%. Over the past 14 days, the price of BTC went down 23%. The price went from about USD 39,390 seen on April 27 to the current (15:39 UTC) USD 31,315.

The mining difficulty of Bitcoin is adjusted around every two weeks (or more precisely, every 2016 blocks) to maintain the normal 10-minute block time. The 7-day moving average block time on May 9 was 9.63 minutes.

According to data provided by ByteTree, over the past weeks, miners have spent significantly more of their newly generated BTC than they held.

____

Learn more:
– Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits Another All-Time High while BTC Trends Lower
– Bitcoin & Crypto Selloff: Liquidations, Extreme Fear, Eyes on MicroStrategy, and Possible Support Levels

– Bukele Showcases Bitcoin City Plans and ‘Buys the BTC Dip’ Amid Stark Warning
– Major Bitcoin & Crypto Companies Warn of ‘Extreme’ Risk in Proof-of-Stake Systems

– Another Bitcoin Solo Miner Wins the Block Race
– Bitcoin Mining Efficiency Up 63% in Year, ‘Sustainable Electricity Mix’ Jumped 59% – Bitcoin Mining Council

– American Bitcoin Miner Aims to Sell USD 30M Equipment in Russia to Avoid Sanctions
– US Sanctions Russian Bitcoin Miner BitRiver to Prevent Russia from ‘Monetizing its Natural Resources’
__
(Updated on May 11, at 07:54 UTC, with the latest difficulty data.)