Bitcoin difficulty drop likely to reverse as hashrate surges

Bitcoin’s (CRYPTO:BTC) network is showing signs of an imminent increase in difficulty, as the hashrate continues to rise toward its previous peak.

Following a recent 4.19% decrease in difficulty during the last retarget, projections indicate that this drop could be erased by August 28, 2024, with a potential increase of 4% or more.

The current hashrate stands at approximately 660 exahash per second (EH/s), just 17 EH/s short of the record high of 677 EH/s recorded on July 25, 2024.

This sustained high hashrate has led to faster block intervals, averaging around nine minutes and 36 seconds, compared to the usual ten-minute target.

This accelerated pace suggests that the recent difficulty reduction could soon be undone, pushing Bitcoin’s difficulty back to its all-time high of 90.67 trillion or even higher.

As of now, Bitcoin’s difficulty is set at 86.87 trillion, which is the threshold miners must meet to successfully validate new BTC blocks.

A higher difficulty level means miners need to exert more computational power to secure a block, making the process more challenging.

Conversely, the recent decrease had made it slightly easier to find valid hashes and add new blocks to the chain.

However, with the hashrate steadily climbing and block intervals consistently falling below ten minutes, the conditions are ripe for a reversal of the recent ease in difficulty.

If the current trends continue, miners could soon face a return to the higher difficulty levels seen before the recent adjustment.

As the August 28 adjustment approaches, all eyes are on the hashrate and block intervals to see if the expected increase in difficulty materializes, potentially marking a new high in Bitcoin’s network history.

At the time of reporting, the Bitcoin (BTC) price was $64,136.13.