The mining power of Bitcoin’s network or hashrate has had the largest drop in its history, with 25 percent less in the last 24 hours and nearly 60 percent less than its all-time high.
As of today, June 28, 2021, the hashrate is at 64 Eh/s, according to Bitinfocharts. Previously, the all-time high of Bitcoin hashrate had been presented on May 13, 2021. That day the hashrate marked 171.3 exahashes per second (Eh/s).
Never before in Bitcoin history had the hashrate fallen so sharply in a three-month period, as they were April, May and June 2021. Plus, it’s the lowest Bitcoin hashrate has had since 2019, when it hit 79 Eh/s.
In this regard, Crypto News reported a few days ago how Bitcoin hashrate fell to 2020 levels following the closure of several Bitcoin mining farms in China.
China behind the fall of hashrate
Behind the tumultuous fall of the hashrate are several facts related to China. In April of this year, with the onset of the rainy season in some provinces of China, many miners were disconnected and thus the hashrate receded.
To the above are added the recent prohibitions of the government against the miners located in the Asian country, which have been disconnected in a domino effect that has made the hashrate plummet until today.
As reported by CriptoNoticias, bitcoin miners are migrating to other points around the planet, in search of the best energy options and commercial opportunities presented to them.
The coincidence between the fall of hashrate and the various events in China, are due to this country hosted about 60% of Bitcoin’s mining power.
But China has taken a prohibitive stance against Bitcoin and ecosystem activities, which is causing the accelerated flight of its major players, including mining pools BTC.com, and manufacturers Bitmain and Canaan.
China effect: commissions increase and blocks on hold
At press time, 51,000 transactions are awaiting confirmation, according to the mempool website.space, which also shows that 32 blocks are on hold.
As for the network’s commissions, they have increased slightly compared to the last few days. They currently range from 30 to 50 satoshis per vbyte (sat/vb).
Alex Torn, a researcher at Galaxy Digital, said that Yesterday, June 27, block confirmation times averaged 23 minutes, the slowest day since 2010, according to his estimates.
“China’s ban is the most disruptive action the Bitcoin network has faced, but it will survive, adapt, persist,” he said, seeing in this hashrate drop an opportunity to decentralize Bitcoin mining by eliminating dependence on China.
In another vein, the highest mining difficulty adjustment in Bitcoin’s history also came into effect on May 1, representing a positive variation of 21.53%. But for the next difficulty adjustment, which will be approximately in 4 days, an adjustment of more than 23% is expected, according to BTC.com, percentage with which Bitcoin will self-regulate to compensate miners who have gone offline.