$BTC The difficulty of Bitcoin mining decreases slightly after reaching all-time highs

The difficulty of Bitcoin mining has decreased slightly after reaching its highest level at the end of May.

On Saturday, June 15, the network recorded a small but notable decrease in its difficulty, reducing it to approximately 126.4 trillion. This follows the all-time high of 126.9 trillion reached on May 31, according to data from the blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant.

The drop is slight, but marks a milestone for mining. Bitcoin's difficulty adjusts automatically approximately every two weeks to reflect changes in the total hash rate, the sum of the computing power of all miners seeking solutions for the Bitcoin network.

As more miners join the network, the difficulty increases to maintain block production at regular intervals. When miners cease operations due to costs or inefficiency, the adjustment difficulty decreases.

The hashrate remains robust, surpassing a psychological barrier of 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s) in April.

Rising costs pose a challenge for miners

Although it remains somewhat less difficult, several miners are struggling with heavier workloads.

The halving in April 2024, a scheduled phenomenon that reduces the Bitcoin block reward by half every four years, drastically cut the reward for successfully mining a block from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC for miners, resulting in half the income for the same work.

Factors such as rising electricity prices, increased hardware costs, and pressure to stay updated with the latest technological innovations have pushed many small or medium mining operations to the brink.