When ₿itcoin’s price hits an all-time high, people know about it. The same can’t be said for Bitcoin’s hashrate. People have an affinity towards price, for obvious reasons, but it can be a distraction from other important aspects of Bitcoin, such as the hashrate.
Hashrate is a representation of the adoption, the security and the investment into Bitcoin. Price is merely what the market is willing to pay and sell for the asset.
What’s more important?
That depends on what you value, and your understanding of Bitcoin. If you’re still attempting to time the market in order to enter a Bitcoin position – the all-time high in price will captivate you more. And if you still see Bitcoin as an asset in a bundle with other alt coins, then the price all-time high will also surely fascinate you more (and you’re probably ngmi).
Once you’ve tumbled down the Bitcoin rabbit hole long enough, however, you begin to recognise that a hashrate all-time high is remarkably more important than price.
Hashrate specifically refers to the collective computing power that goes into securing the Bitcoin network. These are specialist computing machines – most often ASICs – that contribute to the network hashrate by attempting to solve Bitcoin’s complex mathematical equations (a hash) in order to verify a Bitcoin transaction and win the block reward.
Hashrate History
In the beginning, Bitcoin’s hashrate was made up of only one single home computer – run by Satoshi. From such nascent beginnings, Bitcoin’s hashrate has developed into a global network of fair financial force that’s soon to be reckoned with. Today, the Bitcoin network is one of, if not, the most secure networks in the world; powered by specialised competitive hashing machines each competing for that precious and increasingly scarce block reward.
Even as we begin 2022 – Bitcoin’s hashrate has already hit several all-time highs. The latest data has a current record of 237 EH/s (exahashes per second). That’s more than a trillion times larger than when Satoshi first began mining Bitcoin in 2009.
Bitcoin’s journey up and up to reach this most recent ATH in January this year hasn’t been as luxurious a move as, say, the high velocity fiat funded journey that the S&P 500 has benefited from over the years.
Rather, Bitcoin is subjected to constant unimaginative FUD, which has had an effect on overall hashrate. Banning Bitcoin mining is not uncommon for governments around the world. However, this is usually short-lived. Bitcoin’s hashrate simply doesn’t care. It just keeps on rollin’, baby.
A notable example is China’s most recent Bitcoin mining ban, in July last year. What followed was an over 50% drop in the hashrate, but the network never failed. It took nearly 6 months to recover back to its pre-ban levels – and it got there remarkably easily.
Now, Bitcoin’s hashrate is consistently staying above pre-China ban levels and their attempt merely decentralised the network even more than it already is. This ban also had the added advantage of revoking the ability for FUDsters to claim that, because more than 50% of the hashrate was concentrated in China they, therefore, control the network. Just not true. Just more misguided FUD.
Hashrate action enthusiasts can expect Bitcoin’s hashrate to continue to grow throughout 2022, as Bitcoin adoption increases. Soon, people will realise just how important it will be to mine Bitcoin, especially as the block reward starts to shrink.
Home Mining
2021 solidified many trends within the Bitcoin community; a notable one was home mining. When you first enter the Bitcoin space, you may think that it’s too late or too expensive to begin mining Bitcoin. Again, not true.
However, in order to mine Bitcoin profitably, you will need to keep your energy input costs low. No one is stopping you from plugging in an old S9 to help secure the Bitcoin network.
Who knows, you might get lucky solving a solo block.
Either way, the ₿itcoin network abides. Tick tock, next block.
OK, so we don’t offer Bitcoin mining solutions (yet), but we can help you to stack a fat stack of sweetly scarce sats – in less than 90 seconds. We make saving in Bitcoin simple, with smart automations, low fees and fair spreads.
