According to data from blockchain data analysis firm Glassnode, the seven-day moving average of Bitcoin (BTC) hash rate has reached a historic high of 703 EH/s, marking the first time the Bitcoin network's hash rate has surpassed 700 EH/s.
Hash rate (also known as hashrate) refers to the total computational power used for mining and processing transactions on a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain. Since the halving event in April this year, Bitcoin's hash rate has grown by nearly 13%.
Data shared by Bitcoin mining analyst Sebastian Ski shows that the top 12 publicly listed mining companies contributed 28.9% of the total hash rate in September, exceeding 200 EH/s. The share of these miners in the hash rate has been steadily increasing month by month, growing nearly 10% since October 2022. Ski stated, "Publicly listed miners are capturing market share from other miners globally."
Ski also mentioned that the companies with the most hash rate growth in the past 12 months are CleanSpark (CLSK), MARA Holdings (MARA), Riot Platforms (RIOT), and IREN, which aligns with the monthly production increases of the top miners in September.
Bitcoin mining is one of the most challenging industries to maintain profitability, as it is capital-intensive and affected by the halving of block rewards every four years. Therefore, weakened miners will have to exit the Bitcoin network, as continuing to mine is financially unfeasible, while those with the lowest energy costs or the most robust balance sheets will continue to increase their network share.
Hash price jumps to two-month high
According to Glassnode data, Bitcoin's hash price recently jumped to $50 per day per PH/s, the highest since August. The slight increase in hash price is due to Bitcoin's price rising to $68,000 and an increase in transaction fees caused by on-chain minting activities from the Runes Protocol, which accounted for over 50% of total transaction fees on October 17.
"Hash price" is a term created by Bitcoin mining service company Luxor, referring to the expected value generated by 1 PH/s or 1 TH/s of hash rate per day. This metric quantifies the benefits miners can expect to gain from a specific amount of hash rate.
With the hash rate reaching new highs, the next mining difficulty adjustment is expected to increase by over 4% on October 23. Bitcoin's mining difficulty is adjusted every 2016 blocks based on the hash rate to ensure that a block is mined approximately every 10 minutes.