Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate, the computational energy required to mine a block on a proof-of-work blockchain, is on track to reach 1 zettahash per second ahead of the next halving event in about 3.5 years , which will put pressure on miners to secure cheap energy. more efficient offers and equipment.
The average hashrate could reach that level, equivalent to 1,000 exahash per second (EH/s), by 2027, even if it increases at a fairly leisurely pace of 20% annually. It has grown an average of 65% annually since 2020 and is currently around 787 EH/s on a seven-day moving average, according to Glassnode data.
Hashrate is an important component of bitcoin miners’ profitability. The higher the hashrate, the higher the energy costs, which is why it is so important for miners to optimize their business operations. It also influences network security, which has increased by 56% last year.
The pace of growth accelerated in the second half of 2024 after the April halving, when block rewards fell 50% to 450 BTC per day, reducing the income miners receive. The pressure became so intense that some miners could not survive by mining bitcoins alone. They had to shift some of their operations towards artificial intelligence (AI) computing and some even chose not to buy bitcoins on the open market.
At 1 ZH/s, miners will need to find more creative ways to stay afloat and adapt to a more challenging market.
In fact, the hashrate may have already reached 1 ZH/s for a single block, according to a post on X on Thursday. However, a reading of a block is inaccurate due to the probabilistic nature of mining, block time variability, and short-term network fluctuations. The industry standard is usually a moving average of at least seven days to account for outliers and reliability.
Not only is the hashrate increasing, but also the difficulty of mining a block. Since October, the blockchain has seen seven consecutive positive difficulty adjustments, currently at 109.78 trillion (T). Difficulty is adjusted every 2016 blocks and recalibrated for blocks to be mined every 10 minutes. The last time the network saw seven consecutive positive adjustments was after China banned mining in 2021, when the hashrate fell by 50%.
This time, however, hashrate and difficulty go hand in hand.
