Bitcoin Mining Complexity Continues to Rise

With Bitcoin’s price surge, the mining complexity rose by 4.68 percent on January 29. This occurred on a block with a height of 774,144, at which point the complexity increased from 37.59 trillion to 39.35 trillion. This rise has driven the complexity of bitcoin mining to an all-time peak, and the situation will only become more difficult for miners from now on.

Bitcoin mining complexity is the quantity of computing work necessary to include a fresh block to the Bitcoin network. It changes every 2016 blocks (about 2 weeks) to maintain an average block mining duration of 10 minutes. A greater complexity requires miners to complete more computations in order to mine a block and obtain block rewards, hence making it harder for them to generate a profit.

The mining difficulty of Bitcoin is currently approaching 40 trillion, which is an enormous amount. The next adjustment in mining complexity is scheduled for 11 February 2023, and if the pricing keeps appreciating, we may anticipate a jump. The last significant increase occurred on January 15, 2023, when the difficulty increased by 10.26%. Given that Bitcoin’s hash rate is increasing at a rapid rate, this was to be anticipated.

Nevertheless, things have become more challenging for miners since the rate to manufacture one Bitcoin is currently expected to be approximately $21,000. It is undoubtedly cheaper than the spot rate, but the difference is not substantial. Companies who were compelled to liquidate Bitcoins at a loss in order to finance their mining expenses are still recuperating from their 2022 losses.

The prevailing Bitcoin hash rate is 311 EH/s, a 57.6% rise from the same period in 2022. The hash rate is split across the world’s leading mining pools, with Foundry USA just at front with 31,25 percent. Then we have Antpool with a 20% reach, Binance Pool with a 13.75% reach, F2 Pool with a 13.125% reach, ViaBTC with an 8.125% reach, Poolin and Braiins Pool with a 3.125% reach, and much more.
The hash rate pattern remains densely packed, with the top two pools mining over fifty percent of all blocks. In contrast, the top five pools account for almost 85 percent of the total.