The bitcoin hash rate plunged to 84 exahashes per second in June this year after the Chinese government launched the bitcoin witch hunt. At that time, a large part of the network was located in China because of the relatively cheap renewable energy that was available there. However, if we know anything about China, it is that they are not fans of things they cannot control. It therefore came as no surprise that the government decided in favor of the digital yuan that bitcoin does not fit into Chinese society.
Since the blow we made after the ban on bitcoin mining in China, the hash rate in the network has recovered nicely. Many miners have found a new home and since the low in June, the hash rate has increased by 108 percent. According to the figures of Blockchain.com the hash rate’s seven-day rolling average is currently at 175 exahashes per second, taking us just 3 percent from last May’s record 180 exahashes per second.
Miners have faith in bitcoin future
The rapid recovery of the bitcoin network shows that miners are confident in the future of bitcoin and are investing a lot of capital to collect bitcoin through mining. This goes so far that bitcoin miners generally do everything they can to keep the bitcoin they mine on board. Many miners raise money from the market to cover their operational costs so that they don’t have to sell their bitcoin in return.
While gold miners mainly extract gold from the ground to actually sell it, bitcoin miners do everything they can to keep the bitcoin they mine on board. Of course, this does not give us certainty about the price trend of bitcoin. But it does indicate how much confidence this important part of the industry currently has in the future of bitcoin.
In addition, it is interesting to relation between the hash rate and the bitcoin price. What we see here is that the price often follows the hash rate in the network and that would mean that the outlook is getting a lot better, despite the moderate sentiment in the market.
Determining the exact hash rate is difficult
However, it is impossible to determine exactly what the hash rate in the network is at any given time. The figures of many platforms therefore differ considerably from each other, making it difficult to pinpoint an exact all-time high of the hash rate. According to BitInfoCharts data, we had an all-time high of 197 exahashes in May before falling back to 68 exahashes in June.
At the moment, according to BitInfoCharts, we are at a hash rate of 191 exahashes per second, while according to Blockchain.com we are at 175 exahashes and YCharts is at 186 exahashes. The truth will undoubtedly lie somewhere in the middle.
It is therefore best to use the different measurements as a gauge to get a rough idea of the computing power in the network and whether the trend is up or down. For now things are going in the right direction and the hash rate is a fundamental indicator of network health. Although sentiment in the market is not optimal, things are moving in the right direction in this regard.
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