As a result of the next recalculation, the difficulty of mining Bitcoin (BTC) has reached its all time high. This has never happened after the last three halvings. Moreover, according to BTC.com, the difficulty of mining the first cryptocurrency is currently 88.10 T.
What happened in previous Bitcoin cycles?
On April 20, the fourth halving took place on the Bitcoin network. However, this event occurs every four years and reduces the reward for a mined block in the blockchain by half.
Since the last recalculation, the difficulty of Bitcoin mining has increased by almost 2%. This was the first time the indicator increased after halving. For comparison, in previous cycles it changed as follows:
-In 2012, difficulty decreased by 2%;
-Nothing happened to complexity in 2016.
-In 2020, difficulty fell by 6%.
A decrease in mining speed usually leads to a drop in profitability for miners. In addition, against this background, less efficient or financially prepared cryptocurrency miners turn off their rigs, and therefore the difficulty of mining decreases.
What has changed in 2024 and what does Runes have to do with it?
The miners’ reward for mining blocks on the BTC network has decreased from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. But in addition to this reward, miners also earn income from transaction fees that are included in the block.
In past cycles, commissions were not enough to offset the losses associated with the halving. This time, the network’s computing power (hashrate) remained at a level close to its historical maximum. Meanwhile, the average hashrate seven days before the halving was 630 EH/s, and increased to 640 EH/s after.
The reason for this may be the hype around Runes from Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmore. This is a new protocol that allows the creation of altcoins on the Bitcoin network. The new product was launched immediately after the halving on April 21. At the same time, the average commissions in the blockchain of the first cryptocurrency skyrocketed. At its peak, transaction costs reached $128.45, and the share of transactions with Runes exceeded 80%.
To date, all indicators have stabilized. According to Mempool, the average commission on the BTC network is now around $7. Meanwhile, Rune accounts for 50% of all transactions on the blockchain, according to Dune. However, in just six days, miners earned about 2,109 BTC from transactions with Rune, which is estimated at approximately $133 million.
