Bitcoin (BTC) Seven-Day Average Hashrate Reaches 999 EH/s as Mining Difficulty Rises

Bitcoin (BTC)’s estimated seven-day average network hashrate reached 999 exahashes per second (EH/s) on Oct. 8, extending September’s climb as a 5.92% difficulty increase later raised the work required to mine new blocks.

The seven-day average rose from 926 EH/s to 975 EH/s during September. The Oct. 16 adjustment brought difficulty to 140.58 trillion at block 971,712, taking effect at 8:37:31 a.m. ET (12:37:31 UTC).

Bitcoin resets mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks based on how quickly blocks have been found. The adjustment helps keep block production near the network’s target of about 10 minutes per block. Higher difficulty means miners must complete more computational work to find a block.

Hashrate estimates the computing power active on the network over a selected period. The 999 EH/s figure was a seven-day average, not a momentary reading. A higher hashrate indicates more estimated computing power devoted to Bitcoin, but the metric alone does not show whether demand or miner profitability has increased.

CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju wrote Oct. 22, “Higher hashrate means stronger security and better fundamentals as a store of value.”

The new readings add detail to Bitcoin’s hashrate recovery.