Today marks the 13th year since Bitcoin (BTC) creator Satoshi Nakamoto mined the genesis block or block 0 of the Bitcoin network, and for the first time mined a reward of 50 BTC back on Mon, 2009. Fast-forward to 2022, the BTC network shows no signs of slowing down by reaching a new all-time high hash rate of 207.53 million tera hashes per second (TH/s).
The Bitcoin hash rate, which correlates to the strength of the network based on the number of active miners, saw a temporary downfall after China banned citizens and businesses from pursuing crypto mining and trading activities. As a direct result of China’s blanket ban on crypto a sudden shortage of miners, the Bitcoin hash rate fell to 58.46 million TH/s.
BTC hash rate in June 2021. Source: YCharts
As evidenced by the above graph, the Bitcoin hash rate saw an eventual comeback as Chinese miners began migrating to friendly jurisdictions. On Jan. 1, 2022, the Bitcoin network recorded a new all-time high of 207.53 million TH/s, reclaiming the network’s security by increasing the mining difficulty.
BTC hash rate in January 2022. Source: YCharts
At the time of writing, the Bitcoin network hash rate stands at 190.64 million TH/s, down 8.14% from its all-time high.
Related: Bitcoin holdings of public companies have surged in 2021
BTC holdings of private corporations have significantly increased in the previous year, as revealed by on-chain analyst Willy Woo.
Since MicroStrategy’s “Bitcoin for Corporations” conference in Feb 2021, public companies* holding significant BTC have gained market share from spot ETFs** as a way to access BTC exposure on public equity markets.
* MicroStrategy & public mining companies
** Mainly Grayscale pic.twitter.com/e18OEfgiEW
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) January 2, 2022
A Cointelegraph report on the matter highlights that purchases made by Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy exceed $6 billion in crypto assets. In December alone, the firm purchased a further 1,914 BTC worth $94 million.
