According to blockchain data analysis firm Glassnode, the seven-day moving average of Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate has reached a historical high of 703 EH/s, marking the first time that the Bitcoin network’s hash rate has surpassed 700 EH/s.
Source: Glassnode
Hash rate (also known as hashrate) refers to the total computational power used for mining and processing transactions on a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain. Since the halving event in April this year, Bitcoin’s hash rate has increased by nearly 13%.
Data shared by Bitcoin mining analyst Sebastian Ski shows that the top 12 publicly listed mining companies contributed 28.9% of the total hash rate in September, exceeding 200 EH/s. The hash rate share of these miners has been consistently increasing month by month, with a growth of nearly 10% since October 2022. Ski stated, “Publicly listed miners are capturing market share from other miners around the world.”
Ski also mentioned that the companies with the highest hash rate growth in the past 12 months were CleanSpark (CLSK), MARA Holdings (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and IREN, which aligns with the monthly production growth of the top mining companies in September.
Bitcoin mining is one of the most challenging industries to maintain profitability due to its capital-intensive nature and the impact of block reward halvings that occur every four years. Consequently, weaker miners will have to exit the Bitcoin network as mining becomes financially unfeasible, while miners with the lowest energy costs or the most robust balance sheets will continue to increase their network share.
Hash price reaches two-month high
According to Glassnode data, Bitcoin’s hash price has recently surged to $50 per day per PH/s, the highest level since August. The slight increase in hash price is attributed to the rise in Bitcoin price to $68,000 and the increase in transaction fees caused by on-chain minting activity of the Runes Protocol, which accounted for over 50% of total transaction fees on October 17.
“Hash price” is a term coined by Bitcoin mining services company Luxor, referring to the expected value generated by 1 PH/s or 1 TH/s of hash power per day. This indicator quantifies the benefits miners can expect to receive from a specific amount of hash power.
Due to the continuous increase in hash rate, the next mining difficulty adjustment is expected to increase by over 4% on October 23. Bitcoin’s mining difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks based on the hash rate to ensure an average block is mined every 10 minutes.
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