The difficulty for mining Bitcoins adjusted its level on July 1, 2020, to 15.7842 trillion – a drop of 0,0033% from the previous level of 15.7847 trillion, which was set on June 17. The difference is so small that it is rounded up to a zero.
The mining difficulty establishes how hard it is to compete for rewards on the Bitcoin network. It is designed to adjust once in every 2,016 blocks, which usually takes around two weeks, based on the totality of computing power that takes part in the mining game.
The minimal adjustment on July 1 means that the total computing power, dedicated to mining Bitcoin, has remained largely unchanged in the prior 14-day period. This can be attributed to the possibility that there have been no new devices plugged into the system or the possibility that the newly added computing power has been offset by the players that have been squeezed out of the game after the May halving of Bitcoin.
Historically, the initial difficulty of mining Bitcoin has started from 1, after the genesis block has been mined. It started rising in early 2010. The last time the difficulty measured 0% change was in March 2010. Ever since then, there have been only eight times when the difficulty change, whether positive or negative, was below 0,1%. The one measured on July 1, 2020, is smaller than all of them.
With all of this in mind, the mining power of the Bitcoin network has been steadily recovering following the drop after the halving event in May. Just prior, in early March, the network recorded its all-time highest total mining power.
The negligible change in difficulty comes at a time of very low volatility of Bitcoins price, which has been steadily in the range between $9,000 to $10,000 for the last two months.
Core Scientific, a US mining hosting provider, recently announced that it has placed an order with the Beijing-based Bitman, the worlds largest manufacturer for Bitcoin miners. It amounts to 17,595 pieces of the latest AntMiner S19. These machines will be dedicated to Core Scientific’s clients and are expected to be delivered and deployed within the coming four months.
