Bitcoin Seven-Day Hashrate Nears 700 EH/s, Setting New Records

Despite bitcoin’s low mining profitability, hovering around $40/PH/s, the network’s seven-day average hashrate has climbed to a new record of 700 EH/s.

Network data shows that the seven-day average hashrate surpassed the previous high of 677 EH/s on Friday and continued its upward trend throughout the weekend, reaching 700 EH/s early Monday.

While the hashrate increase may suggest that bitcoin mining operators are not yet capitulating, the industry has experienced a wave of mergers and acquisitions due to the hashprice remaining around $40/PH/s after the halving.  Last week, the hashprice even dipped to $38/PH/s following the recent market correction.

Publicly traded mining companies are likely driving this recent hashrate increase. Data from 16 such companies shows they collectively mined 22.76% of bitcoin in August, the highest market share ever recorded by TheMinerMag.

These companies have also increased their aggregate bitcoin holdings to nearly 60,000 BTC as of the end of August, primarily driven by Marathon’s market purchases using proceeds from convertible notes issued last month.

Following this recent hashrate surge, bitcoin’s mining difficulty is projected to increase by 4.6% in the next two days. If September continues to reflect a bearish market sentiment for bitcoin, the hashprice could reach a new all-time low.