Bitcoin Hashrate Surpasses 1 Zetahash in Landmark Achievement
By: Isha Das
The Bitcoin network has accomplished a historic feat by reaching a hashrate of 1 Zetahash per second (ZH/s), marking the first time in its 16-year history that such a level of computational power has been achieved. This milestone positions Bitcoin as one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world today. The hashrate, which measures the amount of computing power dedicated to securing the Bitcoin network through mining, peaked at 1.025 ZH/s on April 5, according to data from platforms like mempool.space and BTC Frame.
The achievement was reported by multiple blockchain tracking services, although there were slight variations in the exact timing. Coinwarz, another tracking service, noted a higher peak of 1.1 ZH/s on April 4 at block height 890,915, and indicated that Bitcoin first reached 1 ZH/s on March 24. These differences arise from the diverse methodologies used by each service to calculate the hashrate, underscoring the complexity of tracking such a dynamic and expansive network metric.
This surge in Bitcoin's hashrate has been propelled by increased competition and developments within the commercial Bitcoin mining sector, where large firms have been expanding their operations and investing in more efficient machinery. Nevertheless, the rise poses challenges for less efficient miners who could struggle unless Bitcoin prices increase. As it stands, public entities such as MARA Holdings, along with others like Riot Platforms and CleanSpark, have contributed significantly to this impressive growth.
This remarkable increase translates into a 1,000-fold growth in hashrate since early 2016, highlighting Bitcoin's development into a vastly more efficient and powerful network. It now processes estimates up to 40,000 times more computations per second than Litecoin, the second-largest proof-of-work cryptocurrency network. Despite this technical success, the milestone has coincided with a downturn in market conditions, with Bitcoin's price dropping 8% in a single day, reflecting wider economic challenges.
