As times weren’t hard, Bitcoin mining just got harder. The network update analysis shows an almost 14% increase in difficulty level of getting a block reward on the Bitcoin chain.
The current network hash rate is 257 million terra hashes per second (TH/s), according to blockchain.com, a significant rise from this time last year when it was at around 140 million TH/s.
Miners have been hit especially hard by the bear market, with mining revenue down 53% from the start of the year, according to Blockchain.com, as the Bitcoin price has struggled to stay above $20,000 since it experienced an 11% slide on September 13. With bitcoin prices so low, the network’s mining pools are making less money amid the highest difficulty rating recorded in over 13 years.