- The latest on-chain data confirms that the difficulty level has reached a new all-time high and the hash rate is not far behind.
- Difficulty is a reflection of both miner competition and the security of the Bitcoin network, and its upward trend indicates that miners are not yet facing profitability issues.
- Data from on-chain analysis firm Glassnode shows that there has been very little concrete change in the amount of BTC held by mining organizations.
The sharp 10% drop in the price of Bitcoin does not seem to have affected BTC miners; Miners continue to trust Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Miners Not Concerned About the Drop
The fundamental indicators of the Bitcoin network do not seem to be following the downward trend in BTC price movement this week. The latest on-chain data confirms that the difficulty level has reached a new all-time high and the hash rate is not far behind.
Despite a 10% drop in BTC/USD last week, Bitcoin miners do not seem to be concerned about the price drop. This was further solidified when network activity increased by 6.17% with the last two-week automatic adjustment that took place on August 22.
This not only pushed the difficulty level to new record highs, but also marked the sixth largest difficulty increase in 2023 according to the data obtained. Difficulty is a reflection of both miner competition and the security of the Bitcoin network, and its upward trend indicates that miners are not yet facing profitability issues.
The next automatic adjustment, which is expected to continue the trend, will allow the difficulty to surpass 56 trillion for the first time.
Hash Rate Shows “High Confidence” in BTC
A similar story is related to the hash rate (estimated distribution of hash power by miners to the Bitcoin blockchain). Although it cannot be calculated precisely, depending on the source, the hash rate is already pushing the highest levels ever recorded, surpassing 400 exahashes per second (EH/s).
Responding to the data, MAC_D, contributing to the on-chain analysis platform CryptoQuant, mentioned “high confidence in security and reliability among network participants for both BTC and the largest altcoin Ethereum” and said the following;
“Recently, the prices of BTC and ETH have dropped by 10%. However, network security and reliability have increased. First, the BTC hash rate (SMA 14) shows higher figures during the drop, indicating that miners are more active in BTC mining. Second, the ETH stake rate (%) shows that more ETH is being staked despite the price drop.”
Data from on-chain analysis firm Glassnode shows that there has been very little concrete change in the amount of BTC held by mining organizations. As of August 22, this amount stands at approximately 1.83 million BTC and has steadily increased by 0.08% since the beginning of the month.
