Bitcoin’s Hashrate Now Requires Eighteen Zeros to Write It Down

19.01.2016

For the first time in the history of cryptocurrency, the overall hash rate of bitcoin network has exceeded a thousand petahashes per second, thus reaching one quintillion operations, or one exahash, per second. This value might be considered an explicit expression of miners’ position, who apparently continue actively maintaining the network notwithstanding the recent Hearngate and the events around block size limit debate, which some have already dubbed a civil war within the community.

Hashrate Graph by coinwarz.com

Most probably, the hash rate spike is caused by launching of a new mining center or commissioning of new mining equipment.

Notably, the stated number is but an average estimation based on assessment of current mining puzzle difficulties. However, some observers point out that such surges usually become “a short-term norm” for the network.

Mining is a process involving adding transaction records onto the blockchain. The miners are rewarded by fees and newly mined bitcoins for their activities. Thus, the network’s overall hash rate directly depends on mining profitability for the network participants. High revenues enable them to use more efficient equipment which operates until the difficulty increases so far as ut makes the equipment’s utilizing unprofitable and futile.

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