Bitcoin’s hashrate reached a new all-time high on Mar. 1, despite the currency falling more than 12 percent in value last week.
According to data from CryptoCompare, Bitcoin’s hashrate has continued to climb ahead of May’s halving event. Hashrate refers to the combined computing power being dedicated to securing the BTC blockchain and validating transactions. The metric has historically been used as an indicator for network interest and the competition for miners in obtaining new block rewards.
Despite the recent price drop for bitcoin, miners have continued to devote more computing power to Bitcoin’s network ahead of May’s halving event, which will reduce the block rewards from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block. Bitcoin’s hashrate has experienced near-linear growth since April 2019, reaching an all-time high of over 120 quintillion hashes per second on Mar. 1.
In February, analytics firm Tradeblock estimated the breakeven cost to mine a single bitcoin would increase significantly following May’s halving, rising from $6,800 to over $12,500. Many crypto analysts and investors anticipate the increased cost of mining and reduction in supply will contribute to a price increase for bitcoin.
Featured Image Credit: Photo via Pixabay.com
