500,000 new ASIC mining machines are ready to go, and BTC hashrate breaking 100EH/S is just around the corner

This article comes from coindesk, original author: Wolfie Zhao

Odaily Planet Daily Translator: Moni

As the computing power of the entire Bitcoin network reaches a new high, data analysis shows that at least more than 500,000 powerful new mining machines have been put online for mining in the past three months.

According to the data from cryptocurrency mining pool BTC.com, the average computing power of Bitcoin has crossed another threshold in the past two weeks. At 19:00 UTC last Friday, the computing power of the Bitcoin network reached a new high of 85 EH/s, and the mining difficulty also rose to a new record of nearly 12T. It is worth noting that since June 14, the increase in these two Bitcoin indicators has exceeded 60%.

Bitcoin mining difficulty is a measure of the difficulty of creating a transaction block. It is adjusted after every 2016 blocks are generated, approximately every two weeks, to ensure that the time to generate a Bitcoin block can be kept at around 10 minutes. Even if a large number of mining machines are deployed around the world to compete for Bitcoin mining resources, as long as the mining difficulty is adjusted properly, the time to generate each block can remain stable.

Of course, some new ASIC mining machines have been launched this summer, with an average computing power of 55 TH/s.

Assuming that the market has deployed mining machines with the above computing power level since mid-June this year, the increase in the total network computing power from 35 EH/s to the current level means that about 500,000 new ASIC mining machines have been connected to the Bitcoin network in the past three months. (1EH/s=1 million TH/s)

Billion-dollar business

These powerful ASIC miners are mainly produced by manufacturers such as Bitmain, Canaan Creative, InnoSilicon, and MicroBT, and the price of each miner ranges from $1,500 to $2,500. Therefore, if 500,000 miners were delivered in the past three months, it means that these miner manufacturers may have earned $1 billion in revenue.

The surge in Bitcoin's computing power and mining difficulty seems to be in line with the trend of Bitcoin's price increase this year. The high price has also led to a continuous increase in the market demand for mining equipment, which has far exceeded the market supply. Of course, the sharp increase in demand for mining machines is partly due to the "flood season" in southwest China, which has brought very cheap and abundant hydropower resources to miners.

On the other hand, miners are increasingly interested in mining in Russia's East Siberia. The Blastek hydroelectric power station built during the Cold War has been used to provide electricity for Bitcoin mines. It is estimated that the Bitcoin computing power in the region has accounted for nearly 10% of the total network computing power.

At the beginning of this year, a domestic company predicted that the average computing power of Bitcoin would exceed 70EH/s in the summer. As expected, this goal was easily achieved in August. It is in this environment that the demand for mining machines is growing, and the equipment of major mining machine manufacturers is in a "sold out" state. Customers need to place orders at least three months in advance to receive them before the end of the year.

TokenInsight, a startup focused on analyzing cryptocurrency trading and mining activity, predicted in a report released last Friday (September 13) that the market will continue to increase the supply of mining machines in the coming months. The report stated:

“With the sharp rise in Bitcoin prices, the Bitcoin mining market has seen significant inflation in the second quarter of 2019, with many mining machine manufacturers experiencing severe supply shortages. Orders placed by buyers in the second and third quarters may not be delivered until the end of the year.”

Therefore, TokenInsight estimates that by the end of this year, the difficulty of Bitcoin mining will continue to grow and exceed 15T, and the computing power of the Bitcoin network will exceed 100EH/s for the first time in history.