Already at May levels. The hashrate of Bitcoin (BTC) mining this week reached the capacity assumed five months ago, before the Chinese onslaught against BTC and the rest of the cryptocurrencies.
According to BitInfoCharts estimates, the Bitcoin network’s hash rate stood at 172,713 exahashes (EH/s) earlier this week, the same figure recorded in mid-May and just before the precipitous drop in the rate to from China’s ban, which was more than 50%. At that time it reached 68 EH/s.
The hash rate was already showing its rise. A few days ago, CriptoNoticias reported that the rate had tripled with respect to the lows reached after the veto in China. Now it appears that BTC mining has finished getting over that episode, heading for higher mining rates.
In fact, the rise in the rate coincides with the new historical maximum of the price of BTC registered in recent days, when it reached USD 66,000, as reported by this newspaper.
The increase in the hash rate is also related to the migration of miners from China to the United States (US) and Kazakhstan, which are now the two largest bitcoin producers in the world.
In figures, the US concentrates at least 30% of all activity, displacing the Asian giant, the only leader before the onslaught against the industry. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, now has 18% of the total activity.
Patrick Lowry, CEO of institutional investment firm Iconic Holding and Cryptology, celebrated the increase in the hash rate. Via Twitter, he asserted that BTC’s mining capacity is on its way to a new all-time high.
“The Bitcoin hash rate has ignored China’s mining ban (and the subsequent shutdown of major mining operations) and is moving towards a new all-time high,” he wrote on his account.
Riot and Marathon, shows the growth of the hashrate
As a sign of the sustained growth of the hash rate, two publicly traded bitcoin mining companies have had big numbers in recent months. They are Riot and Marathon, both from the United States.
This is suggested by Compass Mining , a mining hardware company. Marathon went from mining 50.4 bitcoins in January, to over 340.6 BTC at the end of September. Riot, meanwhile, went from 91 BTC in September 2020 to over 406 BTC in the ninth month of 2021.
The growth of both companies was reflected in the price of their shares, which rose 63.92% in the last 12 months, in the case of Riot; and 392.6% for Marathon.
