Today, Oct. 8, Glassnode's leading on-chain analytical team shared yet another rocketing metric from Bitcoin (BTC) realm. Miners of the crypto king managed to push its hashrate to a historic high.
New all-time high of Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate
Glassnode researchers noted in their recent tweet that the Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate has never been so high. Almost an hour ago it touched the unbelievable level of 170 exahashes per second on the hourly chart.
#Bitcoin hash rate hits a new ATH and touches 170 exahash for the first time in history on the hourly chart (24h MA).
— glassnode (@glassnode) October 8, 2020
That is an increase of around 40% since the halving in May, substantially adding to the security of the network.
Live chart: https://t.co/lpSkIAtfFm pic.twitter.com/Wl1MUODHdZ
This means that the first cryptocurrency is now secured by 170 quintillion hashes. This metric depends on miner dedication, thus making it super volatile. The record values were registered on the 24-hour moving average displayed on the hourly time frames.
Glassnode experts also highlighted how rapidly this metric surges after the third decrease of Bitcoin (BTC) miner rewards in early May of this year. According to their estimations, it added about 40 percent since this remarkable event.
It was May 2020 when the hashrate dropped for the last time. In late Q2 and Q3, it demonstrated confident growth despite Bitcoin's (BTC) price spending this period without leaving the boring flats.
Not only Bitcoin (BTC)
Two days ago, Ethereum (ETH) also set a new hashrate record. Glassnode reported that it surpassed 250 trillion hashes for the first time.
🚨 #Ethereum hash rate hits an ATH.
— glassnode (@glassnode) October 6, 2020
Ethereum miners have pushed the hash rate to a new record high in the wake of the #DeFi hype and surging fees.
It crossed 250T/s and is now up 80% since the beginning of the year.
Live chart: https://t.co/tDWUOcGLSV pic.twitter.com/x9vNicblrA
However, Ethereum (ETH) community enthusiasts slammed the assumption that the Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate should be treated as a reliable metric of network security.
Anonymous Ethereum developer Latetot, creator of the Ethereum Gas Station service, attributed this upsurge to the technical characteristics of mining gear:
No - this doesn't mean higher security and just reflects technical advance in asic design. The only security metric that is relevant is USD value of block rewards which are still lower than pre - halvening. Bitcoin is getting cheaper to attack.
It should be noted that, in January, the Bitcoin (BTC) hashrate barely surpassed the 120 EH/s level.
