The Bitcoin network’s mining difficulty has reached a new all-time high, climbing to 134.7 trillion as of Friday.
Mining difficulty refers to how hard it is to find a new block on the network, and this latest milestone continues a long-term upward trend.
Despite projections earlier in August that difficulty might drop, it has steadily increased throughout the month.
Network hashrate trends
While difficulty has risen, Bitcoin’s network hashrate—the measure of computational power dedicated to mining—has fallen to 967 billion hashes per second, slipping from its August 4 peak above 1 trillion hashes per second.
This dynamic has created tighter operating conditions for miners, who now face higher costs and narrower profit margins.
Impact on mining sector
These conditions have raised concerns about the centralization of mining operations, with some analysts warning that increasing difficulty and cost could further concentrate mining among large corporations and pools.
The need for increasingly advanced and expensive equipment may make it harder for smaller miners to compete.
Solo miners claim rewards
Despite these challenges, some solo miners continue to beat the odds.
In July and August, three solo miners operating through the Solo CK pool each successfully mined a block and claimed the 3.125 BTC block reward—worth over $344,000 at the time—demonstrating that individual miners can still find success, albeit rarely, in a landscape dominated by institutional players.
Outlook for miners
As mining difficulty continues to scale new highs, the sector remains fiercely competitive.
Ongoing increases in difficulty and fluctuating hashrate will likely keep pressure on both large and small mining entities, prompting continued innovation and adaptation within the industry.
