Bitcoin (BTC) block mining difficulty was further reduced by 5% to 27.693 billion as network difficulty continues its three-month downward trend, having reached a peak of 31 251 billion in May 2022.
Network difficulty is a way invented by the creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, to ensure the legitimacy of all transactions that use raw computing power. The reduced difficulty allows bitcoin miners to confirm transactions using fewer resources, allowing miners to earn less mining rewards.
Despite this slight setback, a zoom in on data from blockchain.com shows that Bitcoin continues to function as the most resilient and immutable blockchain network. Although the difficulty adjustment is directly proportional to the hashing power of the miners, the total hash rate (TH/s) gained 3.2% in similar time frames, as shown below.
At its peak, the bitcoin hash rate reached an all-time high of 231.428 exahash per second (EH/s) when the price of bitcoin fell to $25,000 last month in June, fueling concerns about intensive energy use.
Since China banned all cryptocurrency trading and mining operations in June 2021, the United States has taken over as the largest contributor to the global bitcoin hash rate. However, Chinese miners resumed operations in September 2021. According to Statista data, the United States accounts for 37.84% of the global hash rate, followed by China at 21.11% and Kazakhstan at 13.22 %.
Previously, Cointelegraph reported that the sharp drop in GPU prices has opened a small window of opportunity for smaller miners to secure a more powerful and efficient piece of mining equipment. That said, miners see lower GPU prices as a way to offset their operating costs in an ongoing markup market.
Also read: Energy Mix for Bitcoin Mining Reaches 59.5%: BTC Mining Council
A report published by the Bitcoin Mining Council revealed that nearly 60% of the electricity used for BTC mining comes from sustainable sources, allaying concerns about exorbitant electricity consumption.
In Q2 2022, #Bitcoin mining efficiency increased 46% YoY, and sustainable power mix reached 59.5%, over 50% for the 5th consecutive quarter. The network was 137% more secure YoY, using only 63% more energy. It’s hard to find a cleaner and more efficient industry.https://t.co/gqYn8qew9R
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) July 19, 2022
In Q2 2022, #Bitcoin mining efficiency jumped 46% year-on-year, and sustainable energy mix reached 59.5%, above 50% for the fifth quarter in a row. The network was 137% safer compared to the previous year, while using 63% more energy. A cleaner and more efficient industry is hard to find. https://t.co/gqYn8qew9R — Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) July 19, 2022.
The study also found that BTC mining produced only 0.09% of the 34.8 billion metric tons of carbon emissions produced worldwide and consumed only 0.15% of the world’s energy supply.
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