Bitcoin Network Achieves Historic Hashrate Milestone Amid Market Volatility

According to Cointelegraph, the Bitcoin network has reached a significant milestone in its 16-year history, with its hashrate surpassing 1 Zetahash per second (ZH/s) for the first time. This achievement was recorded on April 5, when mempool.space data indicated a peak of 1.025 ZH/s, while BTC Frame data reported a slightly earlier peak of 1.02 ZH/s on April 4. Coinwarz data also noted a high of 1.1 ZH/s on April 4 at block height 890,915, although it suggests that the network first crossed the 1 ZH/s threshold on March 24. However, by April 7, the hashrate had fallen below 0.95 ZH/s. The discrepancies in reported hashrate figures arise from different methodologies used by various trackers. These differences can be attributed to factors such as the timing of block measurements, difficulty adjustments, and the specific Bitcoin nodes and mining pools from which data is sourced. Bitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp has highlighted that using a single "trailing block" for estimation, as opposed to five, can result in a variance of over 0.04 ZH/s. Mitchell Askew, head analyst at Blockware Solutions, cautioned that raw hashrate metrics might be misleading due to random block time variations. He noted that Bitcoin's 30-day moving average hashrate remains around 0.845 ZH/s. Despite these discrepancies, reaching 1 ZH/s is a remarkable achievement for the Bitcoin network, underscoring its immense computational power and growing decentralization. This milestone enhances the network's security, significantly reducing the risk of a 51% attack. The network's hashrate has increased 1,000 times since January 2016, when it first reached 1 Exahash per second (EH/s). In comparison, Litecoin, the second-largest proof-of-work cryptocurrency network, has a hashrate of 2.49 Petahashes per second, making it approximately 40,000 times less powerful than Bitcoin. Mitchell Askew noted that the surge in hashrate aligns with the expansion of commercial Bitcoin mining operations, as firms invest in more efficient machines. However, he warned that less efficient miners might struggle unless Bitcoin's price rebounds in the coming months. MARA Holdings is currently the largest Bitcoin miner, with over 50 EH/s of computing power. The majority of hashrate is directed to mining pools such as Foundry USA Pool and AntPool. At least 24 publicly listed companies are involved in Bitcoin mining, including Riot Platforms, Core Scientific, CleanSpark, Hut 8 Mining, and TeraWulf. This historic hashrate achievement coincides with a sharp market downturn, as Bitcoin's price dropped nearly 10% over four days to $78,750. This decline is part of a broader market trend, with U.S. stocks experiencing a record $6.6 trillion loss on April 3 and 4. Analysts attribute much of this market volatility to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans, which have fueled recession fears.