Bitcoin Hashrate Surges as Miners Ramp Up Operations

Bitcoin’s hashrate has seen a dramatic increase, accelerating the average block production interval to about 8 minutes and 56 seconds, 11.9% faster than the intended 10-minute-per-block interval. This surge, driven by a market rebound from $55,000, has pushed the seven-day moving average hashrate from 558 EH/s to an all-time high of 662 EH/s. This increase of 100 EH/s within a month is akin to adding 500,000 Bitmain Antminer S21 units to the network. Consequently, the next difficulty adjustment could set a new record above 90 trillion, the largest since October 2022, according to TheMinerMag.

Publicly traded bitcoin mining companies are a significant force behind this surge. These companies, having received new-gen ASIC miners pre-ordered since Q3 last year, added 15 EH/s to their hashrate in June compared to May. Their combined market share for bitcoin production rose to 21.4% in June, the highest since December. Marathon’s MARA Pool alone mined 170 bitcoin blocks in July, averaging 7.08 blocks per day, a 35% increase from June. 

The expansion continues. HIVE announced a 100 MW expansion in Paraguay, while UAE’s Phoenix Group is adding 25 MW in South Carolina. Riot acquired Block Mining to expand 60 MW in Kentucky, with plans to scale up to 110 MW this year. This aggressive growth underscores the miners’ confidence in the market’s future.