Bitcoin hashrate reaches all-time high as BTC celebrates 13th anniversary

• Bitcoin mining hashrate has marked a new all-time high over the new year’s weekend.
• This marks a significant milestone for the network as it is now more secure than ever before.
• The leading cryptocurrency has just celebrated the 13th anniversary of its Genesis Block. 

The Bitcoin mining hashrate reached an all-time high over the weekend, just ahead of the 13th anniversary of the creation of the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. BTC was launched by pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009.

Bitcoin network marks significant milestone

Bitcoin is now more secure than ever before given that the blockchain network’s hashrate has reached an all-time high at 209.97 exahashes per second on January 2.

BTC hashrate

The hashrate is an indicator of the total combined computational power used to mine and process transactions by miners to compete against each other to win the rights to validate the next block in the Bitcoin blockchain. 

A higher hashrate means that the network is more secure as further computing power to successfully attack the blockchain is required. The higher value also indicates that the network performs faster and that many more miners are connected to the blockchain, leading to higher decentralization of the cryptocurrency.

The new record high hashrate has marked a significant milestone as it represents a remarkable recovery after China’s crackdown on cryptocurrency mining in June last year, which witnessed the Bitcoin hashrate slide to around 61 exahashes per second. Since then, the BTC hashrate has been in a constant uptrend, as it increased by nearly 200% since July 2021.

Following the crackdown in China, major Bitcoin mining operators relocated to other crypto mining-friendly jurisdictions, including the United States and Kazakhstan.

The significant milestone reached by the bellwether cryptocurrency came just ahead of the 13th anniversary of Bitcoin’s Genesis Block Day. BTC was created by Satoshi Nakamoto and generated its block zero, the Genesis Block on January 3, 2009.

Bitcoin price to kickstart recovery as hashrate increases

Analysts believe that high hashrate values are considered bullish in the Bitcoin market. BTC price is testing the lower boundary of the ascending triangle pattern as support at $46,101 on the 3-day chart.

The prevailing chart pattern suggests an optimistic forecast for Bitcoin price, but the leading cryptocurrency will face resistance at the 100 three-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) at $48,777, coinciding with the 50% retracement level. 

BTC/USDT 3-day chart

Additional obstacles will appear at the 50 three-day SMA at $52,719, then at the 21 three-day SMA at $53,476, which intersects with the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level.

Bitcoin price will discover support at the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $44,078 if selling pressure increases.