Bitcoin mining is getting easier after China’s crypto crackdown wiped out network capacity

Bitcoin mining is getting easier after China’s crypto crackdown wiped out network capacity

A measure of how hard it is to mine is plunging after took out a chunk of the computing power underpinning the network. Bitcoin's "network difficulty," which measures how much computing power is needed to mint a new bitcoin, has fallen 45% from its May highs, according to . The drop is smaller but still pronounced, about 26%, when using 30-day moving averages. Bitcoin's underlying algorithm regularly adjusts difficulty based on how many miners are on the network. Falling difficulty indicates mining power has come offline. The clear culprit is China, where the government's anti-crypto tack has forced mining operations to shutter from Sichuan to Xinjiang. The country, which once accounted for 65% of the world's mining power, has forced a " " in bitcoin mining patterns. In the wake of China's restrictions, nearly a quarter of active bitcoin addresses went offline, according to analytics firm Glassnode. In the end, 90% of China's bitcoin mining capacity is set to be shut down, to the Global Times, a newspaper run by China's Communist Party. Network difficulty, which automatically updates about every two weeks, could bounce back as Chinese miners migrate elsewhere, possibly to or . "It's happening! Texas will be the