The year started on a rather bland note, far below the bold predictions made by several notable Bitcoin proponents in terms of BTC’s price. While 2021 was quite impressive, the cryptocurrency market entered a familiar territory of extreme fear as it began the first week of 2022.
In contrast, though, Bitcoin’s hash rate has registered a new all-time high, indicating that the network’s robustness has never been more secure. The latest peak came nearly eight months after the previous one in May 2020.
Bitcoin Hash Rate Taps a New Peak
According to the data compiled by BitInfoCharts, the Bitcoin hash rate has maintained an upward trajectory since hitting multi-year lows around six months ago. The drop was temporary but damaging as the metric fell below 60 EH/s.
It was triggered by the Chinese miner exodus due to the country-wide ban on mining and trading activities. The recovery has been quick and substantial, demonstrating the strength and resilience of the robust network.
Interestingly, the latest spike to the new ATH comes on the heels of a crucial day for the network – on the 13th anniversary of Genesis Day. Back on January 3rd, 2009, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, mined the first ever block, which marked the beginning of the financial revolution that we know today. Also known as ‘Block 0,’ on this day, the first set of 50 BTC was mined into existence.
It was most certainly mined using the central processing unit (CPU) of a generic computer back then as opposed to the highly specialized and powerful computers of ASICs that miners currently use. Additionally, the genesis block had a difficulty of 1, meaning it was mined instantly.
Comparatively, the mining difficulty now stands close to the all-time high level of 25 trillion. Bitcoin miners witnessed a major mining difficulty increase at the end of last year. It came with an over 8% jump on December 11th.
There was another, more modest, one on Christmas of 0.32%. According to Coin Warz, the next difficulty adjustment is estimated to take place on January 8th.
May Way For Bold Predictions
Bitcoin may have yet to generate any interesting cues this year, but Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is optimistic about the cryptocurrency.
Bukele predicted that Bitcoin would hit a milestone of $100,000 in 2022. He also said the asset will see adoption from two more countries as a legal tender. In addition to the construction of ‘Bitcoin City,’ Bukele also expects to see an oversubscription of Volcano bonds slated to be released this year.
