Bitcoin network hash rate hit a new record high amid price volatility

The hash rate of the Bitcoin (BTC) network hit a new ATH, even when the price of the top cryptocurrency struggled to get past the $40,000 mark.

The network's hash rate hit a new record high of 258 EH/s on Thursday before settling around the 220 EH/s mark. 

The recent rise in the BTC network hash rate signifies the growing number of miners on the blockchain. The Bitcoin network hash rate has grown more than 400% since the Chinese crypto mining ban last year when it fell below 70 EH/s.

The Bitcoin network managed to recover from the significant hash rate drop by the end of last year and has only grown in 2022.

Bitcoin network also saw an increase in mining difficulty to new historic highs, reaching 29.70 trillion. The mining difficulty is adjusted to keep the block generation time of 10 minutes constant. A rise in the mining difficulty signifies that more miners are competing against each other to mine the next block.

Related: Bitcoin miners believe global hash rate to grow ‘aggressively’

According to data from BTC.com, Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by 5% on April 27 and has seen three positive re-adjustments and two negative ones in 2022. The next difficulty adjustment is slated for May 10.

Bitcoin network has stood the test of times and various regulatory onslaughts. The rise in mining difficulty and network hash rate also comes at a time when there is a significant push for Bitcoin’s change to proof-of-stake from its current proof-of-work mining consensus.

Greenpeace, along with other climate groups and co-founder and executive chairman of Ripple (XRP) Chris Larsen, has launched a new campaign aimed at changing Bitcoin to a more environmentally friendly consensus model. However, core Bitcoin proponents continue to advocate for the current mining mechanism as it offers true decentralization.

While Bitcoin’s energy consumption has become a controversial topic, it has often been used to peddle fake narratives such as “BTC will use up all the energy by 2022.” With BTC gaining mainstream popularity, clean mining has become a priority for several mining companies.