Bitcoin mining difficulty rose 10%, hits new ATH

Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty rose 10% to a new all-time high of 37.59 T from 34.09 T on Jan. 15

The difficulty increase is the largest seen since October 2022, according to Bitrawr data.

Source: Glassnode

The significant rise on Jan. 15 exceeded almost all of the network’s difficulty increases in 2022 — only surpassed in October 2022 when mining difficulty jumped 13.55%.

Mining difficulty describes how difficult it gets to solve the cryptographic puzzle necessary to create a block on the Bitcoin network and adjusts every two weeks (2,016 blocks).

Since the blockchain’s last difficulty adjustment on Jan. 3, BTC’s price surged 27% to trade above $21,000 for the first time since FTX collapsed in early November 2022. Several analysts suggested that the uptick meant bullish momentum was returning to the flagship digital asset after the record low it traded in 2022.

The next mining difficulty change is expected to occur between Jan. 27 and Jan. 29 and will likely rise by as much as 25%, according to Bitrawr.