Copy-paste | This week Bitcoin will be mined with the number 18 million

By the end of this week, the total supply of bitcoins available for further mining will decrease again, amounting toonly 3 million This will happen after an eighteen million token comes into circulation. This event can be considered an important milestone in the history of bitcoin - especially on the eve of the halving coming next year.

Bitcoin network participants took a little moreten years to mine 85.7% of the total cryptocurrency supply. Recall that the stock of bitcoins is finite and amounts to 21 million. But now, according to experts, the market may need another 120 years to extract the remaining 3 million coins.

Hash rate remains high

Now many market participants are wondering whichThe future awaits the world's first cryptocurrency. Indeed, if the complexity of its mining increases significantly, and the reward for the mined blocks is too low, will miners have good reasons to remain faithful to bitcoin?

Of course, there is no obvious answer to this question. However, it is encouraging that the hashrate of the Bitcoin network is growing steadily, and competition between miners is intensifying.

In September BTC hash ratereached record levels, and since then has continued to stay close to these highs, showing only temporary short drawdowns. The higher this indicator, the higher the activity, performance and security of the Bitcoin network.

Overall, compared to January 1, 2019,Hash rate has grown by more than 150%. It is difficult to single out any one specific reason for such an increase in the hash rate, but the emergence of a new generation of mining equipment played a significant role in this process.

Hard times for old-school miners

Manufacturers keep up with the times. In preparation for the upcoming bitcoin halving, they are supplying the cryptocurrency industry with more and more advanced and powerful mining equipment. This important event will occur in May 2020 and will lead to a halving of remuneration for each new block mined by the miner. The current remuneration is 12.5 BTC per block.

This can lead to a noticeable increase in competition.between miners. In addition, it will disadvantage miners with outdated and low-power equipment. It is possible that they will be forced to simply exit the game. Another potential threat is tightening the screws by the authorities and tightening regulation in the mining segment.

As a result, many skeptics - especially criticsProof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm predicts an imminent crisis for the currency. They argue that the last Bitcoin will never be mined, since by that time all miners will simply leave the Bitcoin network and switch to the profitable mining of altcoins created using the more promising PoS protocol. In their opinion, this is evolution.

Well, the future will tell. In the meantime, we can only recall that the previous halving of 2016 was accompanied by similar gloomy prophecies. However, then all the fears turned out to be unfounded, and the hashrate of the Bitcoin network has only grown since then.

However, something will also be required from bitcoin. In the months leading up to halving 2020, it would be better to demonstrate a steady bull trend in order to maintain the profitability of mining at levels attractive to all industry participants.

Do you think fears about a critical increase in mining difficulty are somewhat exaggerated? Share your comments with us.

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