Bitcoin network records a fall in levels of difficulty for mining activities

According to recently published data, the Bitcoin network registered a significant decrease in the difficulty of block mining. The information was shared by the Chinese mining group BTC.com, which gathered information regarding the difficulty associated with the hashrate of the Bitcoin network.

Throughout the year, even though the price of Bitcoin registered a significant drop in prices since the beginning of the year, the difficulty has been increasing progressively until these last weeks. Recently the difficulty of Bitcoin mining decreased considerably. The algorithm that makes the respective calculation is adjusted every two weeks, to ensure that each block is created in a period of no more than 10 minutes.

The latest survey revealed that the difficulty fell by more than 15% concerning the previous measure. This has coincided with the significant fall recorded in the price of Bitcoin in all markets, a phenomenon that critics and experts refer to as the “cryptographic winter.”

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Falls in the difficulty of the network

It is convenient to point out that this is the second most significant drop in the history of the difficulty levels of the Bitcoin network. The first time something similar happened was on October 31, 2011, at which time this value fell by more than 18%.

Industry experts associate this fall in the level of difficulty with the drop in prices seen in recent weeks, which also has a negative impact on the profits related to mining activities.

Although analysts have not concluded an exact reason why cryptocurrency prices have fallen so far, they detail among the reasons the recent updating of the Bitcoin Cash network, the fluctuations in traditional markets and the increase in regulatory pressures on operations with cryptocurrencies.

Less support from the mining community

The low profitability generated by the fall in Bitcoin prices, added to the high difficulty of mining and the costs associated with this activity, have caused the operators of older devices to stop providing their support to the network since the activity It is not sustainable. This was indicated by the CEO of F2Pool, Shixing Mao, in an analysis carried out on the current state of the BTC network.

Mao said that depending on the equipment used, a right balance for the price of Bitcoin could be between USD 3,890 and USD 11,580. By quoting each unit of the digital currency close to USD 4,000, it makes the activity less profitable for older devices.

The CEO of F2Pool said that between November 10 and 24,  the power of  HASH  in the network fell from 47 to 41 million TH / s,  representing a decrease of 13%. The people in China who stopped operating their Antminer T9 devices and the  AvalonMiner 741  have opted to sell the hardware to recover part of the investment made.

However, it remains to be seen if this decrease in difficulty remains, and it is enough to motivate the miners to continue providing their support for the operation of the network, despite the low prices recorded by Bitcoin at this time.
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