The difficulty adjustment for Bitcoin mining posted its first negative adjustment for 2021, dropping 1.5%. 


For the first time since November 2021, the Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty adjustment has dropped, correcting 1.49%. The move follows a succession of six consecutive positive difficulty adjustments, in which the mining difficulty and hash rate hit all-time highs.

The average hash rate over the past two weeks fell to 197.19 exhalates per second (EH/s), making the average block time exceed the 10-minute target at 10 minutes 9 seconds. As a result of the difficulty adjustment, miners competing to solve the next valid block found it marginally easier.

Bitcoin mining difficulty marginally dropping after an 8 month climb. Source: Glassnode

The difficulty adjustment is one of the Bitcoin protocol’s most outstanding features. each two weeks or 2,016 confirmed blocks, the difficulty for mining a new block “adjusts” based on the average of the past 2,016 blocks, creating it easier or harder to mine blocks.


From the Bitcoin white paper, Satoshi Nakamoto wrote, “the proof-of-work difficulty is decided by a moving average targeting a mean range of blocks per hour. If they're generated too fast, the difficulty increases.”


By inference, over the past 2,016 blocks, blocks were generated too slowly at an average of 10 minutes 9 seconds. As a result, the difficulty adjustment automatically decreases and miners can, henceforth, find it marginally easier to resolve valid blocks over the next 2,016 blocks.


According to denver Bitcoin, a well known Bitcoin miner, the -1.49% correction may well be the sole one for the year.


A correction of 1.49% dwindles compared to the mining dark ages of may to July of 2021, when a ban on Bitcoin mining in China caused a harmful visit the hash rate. Thankfully, it fleetly climbed up over the course of 2021, surging by 31st as countries like Kazakhstan and Canada picked up the slack, proving the network’s resilience.


The Bitcoin mining industry is progressively competitive, with tech industry players together with Intel keen on creating a dent within the hash rate and introducing their own miners. As Denver Bitcoin alluded, the 300 Eh/s hash rate may well be an possible goal in 2022, significantly as mining shows growing resilience and geographic flexibility.



( Joseph hall, cointelegraph, 2022.)