Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Increases For 8th Consecutive Time: What Does This Mean?

Despite the current state of the crypto market, Bitcoin miners are having a harder time producing blocks and running their business. Bitcoin mining difficulty has reached an all-time high, but what's even more remarkable is the fact that this outage is the eighth in a row, which could mean a number of things for the growing crypto network.

According to data from Bitcoin analytics platform CoinWarz, the current Bitcoin mining difficulty is at a high (ATH) of 110.45 trillion. This correction took place on January 13th at a block height of 878,976, representing a 0.61% increase from the previous price.

Mining difficulty has reached a new ATH

The Bitcoin mining problem shows how difficult it is to mine a new block on the crypto network. The adjustment occurs every 2,016 blocks, roughly every 14 days, to ensure blocks are mined every ten minutes on average. In order for blocks not to be created too quickly, the difficulty must increase, especially as more hash power and mining machines are added to the Bitcoin network.

The problem has increased by 6.29% in the last 30 days and by 19.99% in the last 90 days. However, data from CoinWarz indicates that the next correction will take the problem from 110.45 trillion ATH to 109.54 trillion over the next 13 days, representing a decrease of 0.83%.

A bullish or bearish signal?

Historical data shows that a series of bumps in the Bitcoin crisis can be considered a bullish or bearish signal.

According to a Coindesk report, at some point during the last bull cycle, the Bitcoin crisis saw nine consecutive positive corrections. The latter coincided with the market top–bitcoin (BTC) hitting $69,000 in November 2021. After that, the bear phase began.

However, in 2018, Bitcoin made a similar correction without rallying as it did in 2021. Since BTC hit the $20,000 bull market in December 2017, the crypto network has made 17 consecutive positive corrections through mid-2018. During the next negative correction, BTC was worth around $6,000. This means that when Bitcoin mining difficulty increases, the value of BTC decreases.

In the current cycle, Bitcoin mining difficulty started this trend on October 9 at 92.04 trillion. Since then, the problem has increased sevenfold in the last 96 days. Although analysts say BTC is still in a bull cycle and has room to grow, the asset has been struggling since the beginning of the year.

However, it remains to be seen if BTC will reach its peak for this cycle. At the time of writing, it is exchanging hands for $91.00.