Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by 70% in a year. According to BTC.com, on March 24, 2022, BTC mining difficulty was 27.42 T. As a result of the next recalculation on March 24 this year, the indicator reached a new all-time high at 46.84 T.
The previous record was set on March 11, when the difficulty reached 43.55 T. At that time, the next increase in the indicator was predicted by 4.29% (to 45.42 T), but the increase exceeded expectations, the complexity increased by 7.56%.
Bitcoin mining difficulty changes every 2016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks. It rises following the growth of computing power. This is necessary so that the average block time is about 10 minutes. The next change in mining difficulty will occur around April 6, with a 0.02% drop to 46.83 T.
The average bitcoin hashrate (total computing power of equipment that produces cryptocurrency) at the current difficulty is expected to be 335.23EH/s, which is also the maximum value. The previous high of the average hash rate was 311.68 EH/s on March 11th.
The increase in the complexity of mining and the hash rate of the bitcoin network suggests that more and more miners are connected to the extraction of the first cryptocurrency. This is happening against the backdrop of rising rates of cryptocurrencies since the beginning of this year. On January 1, 2023, the mining difficulty was at 35.36 T. Since then, it has increased by 32%. The bitcoin exchange rate during this time increased by 72% – from $16.500 to $28.400.