Bitcoin: hashrate back to all-time highs

Bitcoin’s hashrate is back at an all-time high. 

As this is an estimate, there are several sources that calculate different values, but they all agree that in recent days Bitcoin hashrate has returned to an all-time high. 

New record high for Bitcoin hashrate

The previous high occurred in early May, just before the Chinese mining ban brought it down. At that time the price of a BTC was around $57,000. 

According to various sources, the daily peak then was about 180 Eh/s, with an hourly peak of about 190. 

Between December 6 and 8, the daily peak was again above 180 Eh/s, with hourly peaks above 190. 

This means that the level of the last few days is more or less the same as the peak levels of the beginning of May, although some sources claim that a new all-time high was actually recorded in the last few days. 

Estimates

For example, CoinWarz estimates that on December 6, a maximum hourly peak of 215 Eh/s was reached, well above the 191 Eh/s of May. 

According to Ycharts, on the other hand, a daily peak of almost 191 Eh/s occurred on 6 December, compared to 190.5 on 9 May, but lower than the 198 of mid-April. 

Coin.dance, which uses weekly averages as a reference, puts this week’s average at 182 Eh/s, compared to 178 in early May. 

So while all sources agree that the current levels of Bitcoin hashrate are in line with the highs of the days around the 10th of May, only a few claim that a new all-time high has actually been recorded in recent days. 

Why is the hashrate growing

What is surprising though is the fact that the price of BTC in recent days has never exceeded $52,000, averaging around $48,000 or $49,000. 

This is 14% below the $57,000 level of early May, when the previous record high was recorded. 

However, there may be a logical explanation for this apparent anomaly. 

In fact, in May there were two dynamics, now absent, which probably limited further growth in the hashrate. 

The first is that the Chinese ban had in fact started almost a month earlier, in mid-April, and by mid-May had only intensified, leading to the total disappearance of the Chinese hashrate on Bitcoin mining in July. Now, however, the Chinese miners have moved in, and there is nothing of the sort to limit their growth. 

The second is that the price had grown very fast, since only three months earlier it had never exceeded $50,000. The rise of the hashrate is a slow process, involving large investments and the building of large infrastructures. Another seven months have passed since then, during which the miners have had plenty of time to equip themselves with new machinery. 

This is evidenced by the profitability of Bitcoin mining, which in the last month has dropped quite a bit from $0.45 to $0.26 per Th/s, but still at the levels of September or February, for example. It is worth noting that in recent years it had rarely been above $0.2. 

In other words, should Bitcoin’s price hold, we can expect new all-time highs for the hashrate in the coming weeks.