Bitcoin mining is getting harder. Bitcoin mining difficulty is expected to exceed 40 trillion for the first time this weekend.according to on-chain datathe mining difficulty increases by an estimated 10% from 39.16 trillion to 43.2 trillion.
Bitcoin mining difficulty set at record level
Mining difficulty represents the number of iterations a miner must perform to obtain the hash of a Bitcoin block. Therefore, the higher the number, the more difficult the block will be to solve, and the less profitable the mining will be.
This metric is updated every two weeks, and the difficulty increases as more miners enter the Bitcoin network. The miner will receive his BTC production reduced over the next 12 days, or around 2,016 blocks, due to the increased mining difficulty.
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Mining difficulty has risen steadily over the past few months as the Bitcoin price has recovered. On January 16, 2023, the highest difficulty ever, the Bitcoin network peaked at 39.35 trillion but experienced a 0.49% decline.
Since then, the difficulty has hovered around 39 trillion. During this period, the Bitcoin hashrate increased significantly, hitting an all-time high on February 16, 2023.
Price Recovery Attracts Miners
For much of 2022, the bear market experienced by Bitcoin (BTC) left many miners on the network suffering losses. Some miners were forced to diversify to sustain their activity, while others stopped mining and sold their equipment. Of course, this led to a drop in Bitcoin mining difficulty and hashrate.
But in 2023, things have changed. First, Bitcoin’s market price has risen more than 40% since its lowest point recorded in November 2022 ($15,670). This attracts the attention of miners looking to profit from the trend.
Second, the rise of ordinal non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin network has increased activity. The larger transactions generated by these NFTs have brought mining fees back to attractive levels.
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Ordinal NFT entries are made in part of a Bitcoin transaction called a Witness. For this, we pay a minimum fee of 1 sat/byte, which is about a quarter of what a transaction would pay to send Bitcoin (BTC).
However, Ordinals transactions are heavier than ‘regular’ transactions, and you often end up paying high fees, in excess of $20. Of course, this depends on the weight of the transaction and the priority assigned to it.
To provide context, miners have generated over $800,000 in fees from Ordinal NFTs in less than a month, according to the following data: Dune analysis.
![bitcoin ordinal mining fee](https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Screenshot_22.png)
The development of the Ordinal NFT has not been without scrutiny. Critics believe it will cause congestion in the Bitcoin network, leading to high transaction fees. Nonetheless, these factors attract miners and increase the difficulty of mining.
bitcoin price
Bitcoin is currently trading at $23,300 at the time of writing.
![Bitcoin has fallen slightly over the past week](https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/BTCUSD_2023-02-25_10-13-07-640x350.png)
Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from Dune Analytics, and TradingView