Bitcoin price has hit a two-year high and is currently trading at more than $19000. However, with increased mining difficulty, it has plummeted to less than $17K two times in the last week. According to analysts, Bitcoin mining difficulty is inching closer to its all-time high, as it is lurking within the 5% range of its ATH. Reports suggest that Bitcoin Mining Difficulty increased by approximately 9% yesterday.
Bitcoin’s bullish phases back in 2013 and 2016 were preceded by a marked increase in mining difficulty. It would be interesting to note if the recent spike will play any major role in helping Bitcoin maintain a long-term bullish trend. At the time of writing this piece, Bitcoin stands strong at $19200.
Implications of Increased Mining Difficulty
An increased mining difficulty could lead to a spike in the number of unmined BTC transactions in the mempool. At the same time, it could well increase transaction fees for users. Most importantly, greater the mining difficulty, higher is the time required to generate a block in the Bitcoin blockchain.
ETH Mining Difficulty
According to the latest reports, ETH also witnessed a two-year-high mining difficulty last week. Ether subsequently faced a dip from $600 to $512 over the span of only three days.