The hash rate of Ethereum reached 966 TH/s when the price of Ether was around USD 3,700. The previous day, Ethereum mining difficulty also hit an all-time high of 12.68 T.
On January 4th, Ethereum (ETH) mining difficulty reached a new all-time high of 12.69 T, indicating more miners connected to the network. Therefore, the processing power, or hash rate, on the second leading blockchain on the market also grew.
According to Glassnode, the Ethereum network exceeded another all-time high that it had reached the day before. The mining difficulty, an element of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm, had risen to 12.68 T.
The difficulty of mining measures how complex it is for miners to solve the problem to identify a block and mine it. That activity allows them to obtain rewards in Ether, in this case.
Ethereum mining difficulty responds to the protection of the network, which makes the activity more difficult amid the arrival of more miners. That serves as an issuance policy that keeps the blockchain safe and translates into more competition.
It also proves that ETH mining still has a long way to go before ceasing. The Merge, which involves a transition from the PoW algorithm to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm, must occur before reaching Ethereum 2.0. Then, the difficulty bomb will explode, limiting the activity and putting the network into an ice age, ending when the switch is complete.
However, the explosion of the bomb will occur later. In early December, the Arrow Glacier fork of the Ethereum network arrived, indicating another postponement for the difficulty bomb. That meant that Ethereum mining would continue for some more months.
The upgrade of the network, Arrow Glacier, brought the improvement proposal or EIP 4345. The only reason for that was the delay of the ETH mining difficulty bomb until June 2022.
That information coincided with what Vitalik Buterin, co-creator of the network, said. He warned that Ethereum 2.0, which promises lower fees, would take at least one more year. The developer published a roadmap announcing that there are still several stages and modules to complete before producing the long-awaited merger.
The Ethereum Hash Rate Also Reaches an All-Time High
The Ethereum mining difficulty increases, and so does the hash rate or computing power to extract cryptocurrencies on the network. Those two indicators correlate, as the difficulty eventually increases when the hash rate rises and stays on the rise.
According to data from YCharts, the hash rate is currently about 960 terahashes per second (TH/s).
More precisely, the hash rate is at 966.97 TH/s, a figure never seen before for that indicator. That denotes the increase in the number of miners connected and extracting Ether.
Bitcoin, the leading network on the market, also opened the year with all-time highs in computing power.
Although the mining difficulty and the hash rate of ETH are on the rise, the same does not happen to its price. It is currently struggling to stay above USD 3,800, about USD 1,000 below its latest all-time high.
By Alexander Salazar
