Bitcoin

April

<p>The halving last April did not leave Bitcoin miners unscathed. Despite an improvement in BTC’s price, small miners were the hardest hit, struggling to stay afloat. The network difficulty, already constantly increasing, has further increased significantly, making the creation of new blocks more expensive and complex. In this context, let’s examine the impacts and strategies adopted by miners to adapt to this new reality.</p>
<h2 id="h-a-growing-and-historic-difficulty-for-bitcoin-miners">A growing and historic difficulty for Bitcoin miners</h2>
<p>As noted <a href="https://www.cointribune.com/en/the-bitcoin-mining-difficulty-is-skyrocketing-despite-the-collapse-of-the-btc-price/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">last March</a>, the difficulty of the Bitcoin network jumped by <strong>more than 10.5% on August 1, 2024</strong>, marking <strong><a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-network-difficulty-increase-aug-2024?utm_source=rss_feed&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">a new all-time high</a></strong>. This increase in difficulty comes after <strong>three months of decline</strong>, during which the computing power required to confirm transactions had decreased.</p>
<div class="my-4">
 <div class="ads " data-page-type="" data-location="1">
 </div>
</div>
<ul>
 <li>New record difficulty: 90.66 trillion;</li>
 <li>Increase of 14% on July 31, 2024.</li>
</ul>
<div class="wp-block-image">
 <figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img decoding="async" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-08/68bdf640-0804-4409-bd7e-2646e319af89.png" alt="DIFFICULTE-RESEAU-BITCOIN">
  <figcaption class="wp-element-caption">
   Bitcoin network difficulty – Source: Blockchain.com
  </figcaption>
 </figure>
</div>
<p>This increase in difficulty imposes <strong>greater pressure on the operational costs of miners</strong>. Bitfarms, for example, saw its monthly revenues increase in July thanks to updates to its infrastructure.</p>
<p>However, <strong>this new difficulty could reduce these gains in the short term</strong>. Maintaining <strong>the security of the network against external attacks</strong> requires this increase, but it also adds to the burden on miners.</p>
<div class="affiliate-button"><a class="affiliate-button__link" href="https://bitpanda.pxf.io/c/2801338/1295465/15871" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Discover the Bitpanda platform</a> <a class="affiliate-button__disclaimer" href="https://www.cointribune.com/en/sponsored-content/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">This link uses an affiliate program.</a>
</div>
<h2 id="h-miners-strategy-in-facing-crypto-network-challenges">Miners’ strategy in facing crypto network challenges</h2>
<p>Despite these challenges, <strong><a href="https://www.cointribune.com/quest-ce-que-le-hashrate-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">the hashrate</a> of the Bitcoin network remains stable</strong> for almost six months at 630 exahashes per second, another crucial indicator of network security.</p>
<p>In the face of rising costs, miners are choosing to <strong>keep their rewards in BTC</strong>, hoping to sell at a higher price in the near future.</p> 
<div class="tradingview-widget-container tradingview--mini-chart">
 <div class="tradingview-widget-container__widget"></div>
 <div class="tradingview--mini-chart--dark">
  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://s3.tradingview.com/external-embedding/embed-widget-mini-symbol-overview.js" async>{"symbol":"BINANCE:BTCUSD","width":350,"height":220,"isTransparent":false,"autosize":false,"dateRange":"12M","trendLineColor":"rgba(253,64,19,1)","underLineColor":"rgba(253,64,19,0.6)","underLineBottomColor":"rgba(253,64,19,0)","locale":"en","largeChartUrl":false,"colorTheme":"dark"}</script>
 </div>
 <div class="tradingview--mini-chart--light">
  <script type="text/javascript" src="https://s3.tradingview.com/external-embedding/embed-widget-mini-symbol-overview.js" async>{"symbol":"BINANCE:BTCUSD","width":350,"height":220,"isTransparent":false,"autosize":false,"dateRange":"12M","trendLineColor":"rgba(253,64,19,1)","underLineColor":"rgba(253,64,19,0.6)","underLineBottomColor":"rgba(253,64,19,0)","locale":"en","largeChartUrl":false,"colorTheme":"light"}</script>
 </div>
 <div class="tradingview-widget-copyright"><a href="https://fr.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/?exchange=BINANCE" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span class="text-primary-color">BTCUSD chart</span></a> by TradingView
 </div>
</div> 
<p><a href="https://www.cointribune.com/en/marathon-digital-surpasses-tesla-and-apple-bitcoin-mining-stock-soars-on-wall-street/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Marathon</a>, for example, currently holds 18,536 Bitcoins, valued at over 1 billion dollars, up 48% from its 2023 holdings.</p>
<p>“<em>Market dynamics must be considered</em>,” explains Salman Khan, CFO of Marathon. Short-term fluctuations in the Bitcoin price greatly influence miners’ selling decisions.</p>
<div class="affiliate-button"><a class="affiliate-button__link" href="https://bitvavo.com/fr/affiliate/coinmedia?a=_cta" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">€20 bonus for registering on Bitvavo</a> <a class="affiliate-button__disclaimer" href="https://www.cointribune.com/en/sponsored-content/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">This link uses an affiliate program.</a>
</div>
<p>The increasing difficulty of the Bitcoin network poses significant challenges for miners, but optimism persists thanks to adaptive strategies and the <a href="https://www.cointribune.com/en/bitcoin-miners-could-bounce-back-thanks-to-ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">potential rise of AI</a>.</p>

Bitcoin: Network Difficulty Reaches an Unprecedented level

Table of Contents

Cointribune EN

Other articles published on Aug 3, 2024

Yona Network Integrates with Babylon Chain to Bridge Bitcoin and Solana

SHIB Rivals WIF, BRETT Worst Performers Today

Looking Back at Pi Network’s ‘Pi2Day Challenge’

Expert Predictions: Cryptos That Will Dominate The Next Bull Run

Is Dogecoin Price on the Brink of Crashing Below 30.85B DOGE Support?

Forget about Ethereum ETFs — Here's what you can do instead

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!