Bitcoin (BTC) Hashrate Surges to a Record Value as the Coin’s Price Continues to Explore New All-Time Highs (ATHs)

The “Hashrate” refers to a metric that keeps track of the total amount of computing power that the Bitcoin miners as a whole have

Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate has surged to a record high as the primary coin continues to set new all-time highs (ATHs) in price.

Bitcoin 7-Day Average Mining Hashrate Shot Up Recently

The “hashrate” is a metric that tracks the total amount of computing power the Bitcoin miners are currently connected to the network. It is measured in units of hashes per second (H/s) or the larger and more practical terahashes per second (TH/s).

The miners use their computing power to solve certain mathematical puzzles, and the reward for doing so is the opportunity to add the next block to the chain. At no point, however, does the collective computing power connected to the network work in tandem.

Instead, the miners use their individual hashrate to compete against each other to be the first to solve these puzzles and get the reward. Despite this fact, though, the ‘total’ hashrate is still a useful indicator as it gives an insight into the state of these validators as a whole.

When the value of this metric goes up, it means that more power is being connected to the network by the miners, and this trend suggests that they are finding BTC mining to be a profitable venture.

On the other hand, the indicator going down implies that some of the miners have decided to leave the blockchain, possibly because they are no longer generating a positive return.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the 7-day average Bitcoin hashrate over the past year:

As you can see from the graph, the 7-day average Bitcoin hashrate has observed a rapid climb recently, which implies that more power is being added to the network by the miners.

Earlier this month, the metric had set a new record of 755 TH/s, but even though the cryptocurrency had gone on to rally to new highs in the following weeks, the metric had registered a drawdown instead.

Bitcoin miners generate their revenue from two sources, the transaction fees and the block subsidy, but the latter usually contributes to the vast majority of their income, so the former can be largely ignored when trying to gauge miner profitability.

The block subsidy remains fixed in BTC value (except for during Halvings, events occurring about every four years where it is permanently slashed in half) and is given out at a nearly constant rate of time. As such, the only way miner revenue can change is when the price of BTC itself changes.

Bullish periods naturally lead to higher profitability for these chain validators, so they tend to invest more in their farms. This is why the trend seen earlier in the month was surprising.

Miners may not have been too confident about the bull run then, but with the latest leg up to prices close to the $100,000 level, the hashrate has appeared to be back on track, signaling that this cohort has bought into the rally.

Following the latest increase, the 7-day average Bitcoin hashrate has set a new ATH of over 768 TH/s.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at around $98,000, up more than 9% over the last week.