The historic mining of the 19-millionth Bitcoin was accompanied by ATH the difficulty level of the network. It reached 28.587 trillion for the first time in history.
Along with the difficulty, the hashrate of the network is also increasing, which now stands at 197.38 EH/s.
What does the increase in hash rate mean?
A higher hash rate translates into greater security for the entire network. It is also worth noting that the current value is nearly 4% higher than the January 21 record we described in the article: Bitcoin network difficulty reaches new all-time record.
The 19-millionth bitcoin with the highest network difficulty
After miners managed to mine the 19-millionth Bitcoin despite the record network difficulty, only 2 million BTC remain to be mined. With the total supply set at 21 million, there is thus about 9.5% of all Bitcoin left to be mined. However, the increase in difficulty translates into a decrease in the profitability of mining.
Fewer and fewer BTC waiting to be mined, but the number of lost ones is growing
We should also not forget about the huge amounts of BTC that have been irretrievably lost since the beginning of the network. However, it is difficult to say exactly how many Bitcoins have been lost. Some include those that have not been moved in a long time, which can sometimes be misleading. This was confirmed by the giant's recent awakening: the bitcoin whale is back after 7 years.
The most commonly accepted number proposed by Kim Grauer of Chainalysis is 3.7 million BTC, but these figures are already outdated. However, regardless of how many Bitcoins have been irretrievably lost, they should be viewed as assumed by Bitcoin's creator.
Satoshi Nakamoto described it as a "donation" to all users. In his view, lost BTC
"make the coins of all other users worth a little more."
However, there is no shortage of voices advocating that the risk of losing cryptocurrencies can be a problem on the road to adoption. For more information on this topic, see the article: Lost bitcoins | 20% donation or obstacle to wider adoption?
What do you think of the bitcoin network's next difficulty level record, accompanied by an increase in hash rate?
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