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Despite an upswing in mining difficulty on May 18, current data projects Bitcoin’s mining difficulty to see a further escalation on May 31, 2023—potentially jumping between 1.1% and 2.51%.
Bitcoin’s Difficulty Nears 50 Trillion Milestone
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty, already at an unprecedented level of 49.55 trillion, seems poised to breach the 50 trillion threshold within five days. Although the process of mining bitcoin (BTC) has become increasingly challenging, the hashrate has maintained an average rate of 364 exahash per second (EH/s) during the last 2,016 blocks. As of May 26, 2023, the hashrate hovers around 367.29 EH/s based on a 24-hour analysis.
On May 2, 2023—a noteworthy event in Bitcoin’s lifetime—its hashrate reached a historic high at block height 787,895 with an impressive figure of 491.15 EH/s. The network’s hashrate spiked again in mid-May to reach 453 EH/s and today, it achieved a peak of 427 EH/s. Block intervals have hastened, and the most recent block recorded at block height 791,491 had a duration of approximately nine minutes and 53 seconds.
The acceleration in block intervals or times outpacing the ten-minute average suggests that another rise in difficulty looms next week. Already, projections reveal a potential increase on May 31 that could range from 1.1% to 2.51%. Should this transpire, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty will land in the vicinity of 50.79 trillion—a milestone for surpassing the 50 trillion mark for the first time in Bitcoin’s lifespan.
Currently, Foundry USA leads the pack among mining pools with a 127.93 EH/s hashrate—amounting to 35.54% of the entire network’s total. Antpool, F2pool, Viabtc, and Binance Pool trail closely in the respective rankings of overall hashrate per mining pool. Over the previous month, a total of 4,396 blocks were unearthed by Bitcoin miners, with Foundry discovering 1,373 blocks by May 26.