Bitcoin Records Hashrate Spike—Analysts Foresee Mining Difficulty Increase

Following a difficulty plunge to 1.49% to the 169 EH/s area two weeks ago, Bitcoin (BTC) has seen its hashrate jump by over 15% ever since, as the network hashrate hovers over 200 exahash per second (EH/s).

On March 3, Bitcoin’s difficulty dropped by 1.49% after six consecutive upward difficulty adjustments. At press time, the network’s mining difficulty is 27.55 trillion as processing power improves.

That said, Bitcoin has now increased by over 15% since the difficulty adjustment and 29% since its hashrate touched 169 EH/s in early March. As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin’s processing power hovers over the 200 EH/s range at 218.11 EH/s. The next mining difficulty adjustment is set to occur in the next four days, with analysts predicting a 1.03% rise.

Meanwhile, a three-day hashrate distribution data shows that Foundry USA has recorded the lost mining activity in the last 72 hours. The American-based mining pool boasts a dedicated mining capacity of 42.42 EH/s, which translates to 21.19% of the current hashrate.

Coming in second place in the last three days is F2pool with 30.93 EH/s dedicated to mining BTC, which translates to 15.45% is the current global hashrate. Current reports show that 11 known mining pools are dedicating SHA256 hash power towards the BTC network.

Key Bitcoin Levels to Watch — March 15

Bitcoin continues to show an aggressive refusal to sustain a slip below the $38,000 support as it clings to my multi-week-long ascending trendline. The key level for bulls to beat in the near term is the $40,000 top, where the 4-hour 100 EMA resides. The primary cryptocurrency recorded a goodish bounce off the trendline earlier today and has maintained a mild bullish tone ever since.

However, trading volume, and thus market momentum, appears to be on the low side as market participants move to the sidelines ahead of the two-day US Fed policy meeting commencing tomorrow. That said, traders will likely take cues from the event for near-term trading bias.

Meanwhile, my resistance levels are at $40,000, $41,000, and $42,000, and my key support levels are at $38,500, $37,500, and $36,000.

Total Market Capitalization: $1.74 trillion

Bitcoin Market Capitalization: $743.5 billion

Bitcoin Dominance: 42.6%

Market Rank: #1