Bitcoin hash rate surges 17% to touch ATH before falling back

The uptick in BTC’s hash rate is expected to lead to a 7% to 10% increase in mining difficulty. 

Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate

Bitcoin’s (BTC) hash rate surged 17% to an all-time high of 361.28EH/s on Jan. 6 from around 233 EH/s recorded on the same day — the second biggest one-day increase in the past year.

It has since retraced to 269.56 EH/s, as of press time.

Over the past week, data shows that Foundry USA contributed 29.08% of the total hashrate, followed by Antpool’s 20.38% and F2Pool with 16.12%.

MacroMicro also suggested that the average cost of mining BTC was greater than the asset’s spot price. According to the data, BTC’s average mining cost as of Jan. 7 was $19,230.

Since BTC’s hash rate Christmas decline, the network has added 50th/s. During the festive period, the hash rate plunged by around 40% amid poor weather conditions that forced major miners to shut operations.

Meanwhile, BTC’s hash rate uptick is expected to lead to a 7% to 10% increase in mining difficulty.

BTC’s mining difficulty is currently at 34.09T. The estimated increase will see the mining difficulty rise to between 36.6T and 37.7T, according to bitrawr.