Another Adjustment: Mining Difficulty Increased by 0.61%
On January 12, 2025, the difficulty of mining the first cryptocurrency updated its historical maximum at the level of 110.45 T. Since the last change, it has increased by 0.64%, according to CloverPool.
The current average hash rate in the Bitcoin network is 790.65 EH/s.
Bitcoin mining difficulty and hash rate. Source: CloverPool.
Bitcoin mining difficulty is an indicator that reflects how difficult it is to calculate and find a new block and receive a mining reward. The main goal of this adjustment is to maintain the average block finding time around 10 minutes, regardless of changes in the total computational power of the network.
Approximately every 14 days (every 2016 blocks), this value changes, regardless of the network's hash rate.
If the block is found in less than 10 minutes, the difficulty increases; if it takes more time, the difficulty decreases. Mining difficulty depends on the network's hash rate and the time spent finding previous blocks. The higher the mining difficulty, the lower the profitability index.
The next difficulty recalculation should occur in 14 days, approximately on January 26, 2025.
Amid the increase in difficulty, the Bitcoin Hashprice Index mining profitability indicator decreased by 1.1% in a day, from $54.68 to $54.05. The indicator denotes the amount a Bitcoin miner can earn for each 1 PH/s (petahash per second, 1 exahash = 1000 petahashes) of computational power per day.
In December 2024, miners collectively mined 14,213 new bitcoins, according to Blockchain.com. During this period, US-registered BTC miners accounted for 3,602 BTC (about a quarter). According to investment bank Jeffries, American public miners control 25.3% of the total hash rate of the first cryptocurrency network.
The next recalculation is expected to occur approximately on January 26, 2025.