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BTC - Difficulty
Description
Network Difficulty (aka Mining Difficulty) represents the estimated hashes required to mine one block. It is adjusted up or down automatically every two weeks by the protocol to keep block generation intervals near 10 minutes. There is a direct correlation between difficulty and network hash rate.
Bitcoin's USD Market Price is included for reference.
Pseudocode
for each block in blockchain:
(x,y) := (blk.time, block.difficulty)
for each hour in blockchain:
hr_difficulty := open(blockchain[hr_start:hr_end].difficulty)
(x,y) := (hour, hr_difficulty)
for each day in blockchain:
day_difficulty := open(blockchain[day_start:day_end].difficulty)
(x,y) := (day, day_difficulty)
Technical Info
Difficulty is a miner consensus value logged in each block and easily referenced over time. Adjustments are made according to the protocol every two weeks. It is most directly affected by miner investment and technology improvements. It is an excellent indicator of competition and profitability within the mining industry.
Note the impact of China's mining policies during July 2021 for an example of reduced miner investment.
- Hourly and daily aggregations are derived from block data using open for this metric. Open grouping uses the first data in a timeframe to represent that timeframe.
- Hourly data contains occasional gaps; no blocks were generated during these times.
Related Metrics
External Links
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