Bitcoin’s hash rate hits new highs, but profitability continues to decline.
The Bitcoin network's computing power – or miner's hash rate – hit an all-time high on Christmas Day, but it has put more pressure on miners as profitability plummets.
On December 25, Bitcoin's hash rate peaked at 544 exahashes per second, according to Blockchain.com. The data was confirmed by Bitinfocharts, which reported that the average hash rate peaked over the weekend.
It comes as network hash rates have more than doubled this year, rising 130% since January.
At the same time BTC hash rates rose, the asset's price was reflected on the chart, rising more than 150% since January 1, 2023.
Will Clemente, co-founder of Resilience Research, views the hash rate on a logarithmic scale, “The winter 2021 Chinese mining ban is not trivial,” said Clemente. Think “the most secure decentralized open source financial network on the planet fading, it can't be me.”
A high hash rate may be good for theoretical pricing models such as hash-adjusted pricing, but it's not good news for miners working hard to secure the next block.
Hash prices, a measure of profitability, fell last week as the BRC-20 plaintext frenzy cooled. The hash rate is currently $0.09 per terahash per second per day, according to HashrateIndex.
RELATED: Bitcoin revenue per terabyte hits record low as hash rate rises
Profitability is down 34% from its 2023 high of $0.136/TH/s/day on December 17. Hash prices often spike during periods of high demand, resulting in high transaction fees, such as the recent write-up frenzy.
Glassnode analyst Checkmatey said, “We're approaching a full year without fully clearing Bitcoin pools, showing high pressure since February.
As reported by Cointelegraph, network hash rates first crossed the 500 EH/s mark in late November.
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