Bitcoin Makes Huge Leap As Network Hash Rate Explodes To A New All-Time High

• Bitcoin’s hash rate reached a new all-time high despite price corrections.
• The growth translates to an increase in the security of the network.
• Bitcoin is up 2.37% in the day and trading above $44k.

At the close of the week, Bitcoin’s hashrate reached a new peak. This new metric might be a jaw-dropper considering the lackluster price movements of the primary cryptocurrency of late.

A 31.69% Jump In 24 Hours

The hash rate of the foremost crypto asset by market cap jumped an impressive 33.72% in just 24 hours, moving from 186.30 EH/s to 249.09 EH/s. With the move, it increased its hash rate by more than 55.33% over the previous year, leading to a more secure network.

Bitcoin’s hash rate gives a measure of the computing power required to solve complex problems in order to verify transactions on the blockchain in order to earn Bitcoin rewards, a process known as Bitcoin mining. As a result, the more computing power required, the less likely fraudulent individuals are to verify false transactions on the network.

The present outcome seemed unlikely in May last year when China, at the time the largest contributor to Bitcoin’s hash rate, contributing about 34.25% of the total hash rate, actively enforced a ban on Bitcoin mining. Bitcoin miners had to either shut down or migrate to environments that were more favorable for Bitcoin mining. In a massive show of resilience, the network mining hash rate picked up in about 6 months. On December 10th of the same year, the hash rate retraced its steps to levels before the ban.

As miners began to migrate, Bitcoin mining activity began to pick up at a rapid pace in other locations, and since October of last year, the United States has been the number one contributor to the hash rate. Current data shows that the US now contributes about 35.4% of the hash rate.

There are several pundits that believe that there is a direct correlation between the hash rate and the price of the digital asset, as a higher price might incentivize miners to invest more in mining equipment. However, the present data might disagree, considering the growth in hash rate despite an unimpressive 3 months for the digital asset in terms of price movement.

Unsavory Prices

Bitcoin has had a difficult three-month period since reaching an all-time high of nearly $69k in early November. In 3 months, the asset has lost about 40% of its value and struggles in the throes of a doldrum.

At the beginning of the year, some analysts were hoping to see some bullish pressure in the market fueled by institutional money coming into the market. However, things failed to turn out as expected as the price continued to slip even further. At some point towards the end of January, the asset slipped below $33k.

Bitcoin has since gone on to recover some of its losses in the past weeks, going up 2.37% in the last 7 days, according to CoinMarketCap. The asset is presently trading at about $44,077 on major exchanges.