During a May 25 network adjustment, Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped by -4.33%. This was the largest drop since July last year, when China cracked down on Bitcoin mining. The network’s hashrate plunged.
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty fell by approximately -4.33% in a May 25 adjustment, the largest drop since July 2021.
The data was published by BTC.com. This site tracks network mining difficulty, and updates approximately every two weeks with any adjustments.
Mining difficulty refers the complexity of mining. Miners repeatedly try to find a lower level hash. The reward for the next transaction block is given to miners who “discover” the hash. In synch with the network’s hash rate, the difficulty is adjusted every 2,016 blocks (roughly every 2 weeks).
Since July last year, the difficulty levels have not fallen by more than 1.5%.
This event occurred at the same time that China was clamping down on Bitcoin mining within the country. It caused the network hash rate drop to about 50% in less than two months.
According to data from The Block Research, the network’s hashrate has fallen by approximately 5.43% since May 11, the date for the last difficulty update.
Since the summer 2021, Bitcoin’s network difficulty has been steadily increasing on par with its hash rate — except for a few small drops.
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance is a major source of hash rate distribution data and published new findings last week. These showed that some Bitcoin miners continued to operate in China even after the ban.
