Just few weeks after hitting ATH, Bitcoin hash rate has coasted to a new all-time high; as the Bitcoin network keeps growing from strength to strength.
What is hash rate? Hash rate refers to the speed at which computers on the network operate. This is important and profitable for BTC miners as it increase chances of completing blocks and collecting resultant block rewards.
This rate of computing power has steadily increased since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009, and has hit about 80 EH/s at this time, marking a new all-time high for the Bitcoin network.
Surprisingly, at the time of Bitcoin’s peak price in mid-December 2017 (Where 1 BTC = $20,000); the hash rate was around 15 EH/s, an indication that the current computing power has grown by over 400% since 2017.
Why is this important? A major benefit of an increased hash rate is bitcoin’s network security as it becomes difficult to carry out 51% attack, this is because with the higher hash rate it is more costly to launch attacks.
Bitcoin (BTC) now has 85% of its total supply in circulation, with just over 3.15 million coins left to be mined over the next 20 years (2140).
As at August 1, Bitcoin miners extracted the 17,850,000th unit from Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million units, as viewed on Blockchain data.
This current BTC milestone means only a maximum of 17,850,000 people can own 1 Bitcoin each, and as in standard cases of demand and supply, analysts say scarcity is about to kick in which would have an astronomical effect on BTC price in the long term.
Some very bullish predictions say $100,000 by 2020. Do you share this view?
With Bitcoin halving set for May 2020, and miner difficulty and hash rate at record highs, Bitcoin has become more secure and many now predict the effect of these events on Bitcoin price which all point to an uptrend.
Asides increased hash rate and mining statistics, this year 2019 has recorded the highest number of Bitcoin transactions since its inception in 2009. With five months till year end, Bitcoin transactions in 2019 have exceeded those of the great bull run of 2017.
A first transaction milestone was hit in May this year with about 450,000 transactions per day. These figures are set to increase with the growing adoption, network strength and strengthening fundamentals at this time.
What are your thoughts on this? Share in the comments
NOTE: This publication does not represent financial advice. Always Do Your Own Research (DYOR).
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