Bitcoin hash drop reduced block finding speed by 60%

The recent sharp drop in the price of Bitcoin forced Mayers to turn off some of their equipment. This led to60% increase in the time spent on average finding a new block. Such data were cited by Ankit Chiplunkar, a leading researcher at TokenAnalyst.

Network hashrate of the leading cryptocurrency on March 12 atAgainst the backdrop of a collapse in Bitcoin quotations, Bitcoin fell to 97.9 EH/s, losing about 30%. By March 20, the indicator dropped to 82.28 EH/s. The fall showed that miners were turning off equipment so as not to generate losses.

Chiplunkar noted that the profit of miners is pressured not only by the drop in bitcoin quotes in dollar terms, but also by the increased block search time. This reduced their income in BTC.

The network algorithm provides that, on average, a new block is added every 10 minutes. However, in early March, this figure was less than 9 minutes, but by the 18-19th day it jumped to 12-14 minutes.

The researcher noted that the slowdownSearch blocks can shift the timing of halving. At the same time, reducing the block reward from 12.5 BTC to 6.75 BTC will put additional pressure on mining profitability.

The recalculation of complexity, which will happen next week, can help return the block production speed to the planned one. According to CoinMetrics specialists, the indicator will fall by more than 13%.

Bitcoin analyst under the nickname Ceteris Paribusconfirmed the conclusions of TokenAnalyst, and calculated that over the period from March 10 to 20 (11 days), the average block addition time was 11.9 minutes, instead of the estimated 10. Miners mined 16,650 BTC these days against the planned 19,800 BTC.

Let us remind you that, according to the head of the research department of MinerUpdate, John Lee Quigley, the upcoming halving will become a serious stress for miners and will lead to the consolidation of capacity by major players.