ViaBTC | An Introduction to Two Common Blockchain Terms: Hashrate and Mining Difficulty
When choosing mining rigs and mining pools, many miners will first check the relevant hashrate and mining difficulty. Some beginners may find these terms confusing. So, what exactly do they mean?
Hashrate, or hashing power, refers to the number of hash operations that can be performed per second. Considering that Bitcoin mining is a process where the miner constantly calculates and finds a random number that meets the function requirement, hashrate, in the case of Bitcoin, refers to the computing power. In addition, the network hashrate indicates the number of hash operations performed per second by all mining rigs in the network; the mining pool hashrate represents the number of hash operations performed per second by all mining rigs connected to a mining pool; the mining machine hashrate refers to the number of hash operations performed per second by a machine under ideal conditions.
The most basic unit of hashrate is Hash/s (H/s). However, as the hashing power of mining rigs grows, the unit has become increasingly insufficient, which triggered the invention of other hashrate units, including KH/s (1,000 H/s), MH/s (1,000 KH/s), GH/s (1,000MH/s), TH/s (1,000 GH/s), PH/s (1,000 TH/s), EH/s (1,000 PH/s), etc. Right now, the rated hashrate of mainstream mining machines stands at about 70–120 TH/s.
The picture above shows the changes in Bitcoins’ network hashrate since 2016. Starting from 2017, the Bitcoin hashrate has begun to soar. Tough the growth trend had been disrupted by several drops, the figure has been trending upward overall. At the moment, the Bitcoin hashrate is roughly at 201.5 EH/s.
Despite such growth, Bitcoin blocks are still being generated at the pace of 1 block/10 minutes. Some may question: Why didn’t the improved computing power of mining rigs bring faster block generation? This has something to do with another concept of Bitcoin — the dynamic adjustment of mining difficulty.
From the very beginning, the BTC system has introduced the design of dynamic mining difficulty adjustment. It was stipulated that, upon the generation of every 2,016 blocks, the system will adjust the mining difficulty of the next 2,016 blocks based on the total block time of the previous 2,016 blocks. In normal circumstances, it takes 14 days (20,160 minutes) to produce 2,016 blocks. If it took less than two weeks to generate the previous 2,016 blocks, the mining difficulty will be increased; if the opposite is true, the mining difficulty will be reduced.
The latest difficulty (D) of Bitcoin stands at 26.69 T as of February 14, 2022. On the ViaBTC website, we can check the real-time network hashrate and mining difficulty at any moment. Moreover, with the help of ViaBTC’s Profit Calculator, we could determine the daily yield after our hashing power is connected to a pool. For instance, according to the current block reward (6.25 BTC), if the hashrate of a miner is 1 TH/s, then the estimated daily yield would be 0.00000478 BTC.
In light of the fierce competition between miners and the high network hashrate & mining difficulty, we advise you to connect to an ideal mining pool for steady returns, which will help you avoid losses from long-term zero output as the result of insufficient hashrate. If you are a beginner, you can also determine the estimated return according to the current network hashrate and mining difficulty before starting to mine. It is also possible to estimate the payback period and net profit. This will allow you to make better decisions when purchasing mining rigs and connecting your hashing to a pool, thereby maximizing the net profit.
Recently, ViaBTC Pool has launched the ViaBTC Ambassador program — users can receive commission rewards of up to 20% by inviting their friends to mine on ViaBTC. At the same time, the referred miners who got registered on ViaBTC will also get a 50% discount coupon for fees on mining all cryptos that will be valid for 30 days. By offering maximum benefits for miners, ViaBTC shortens the payback period of mining.
For more information about the program, please go to the ViaBTC website (https://www.viabtc.com/) or ViaBTC Pool App.
