According to recent data from cryptocurrency analytics firm CryptoQuant, Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty has hit a new high.

Bitcoin mining difficulty increased by 3.45% at block height 760,032 to reach 36.84 billion hashes on Sunday night, October 22. The move was modest compared to the 13% rise seen earlier this month.

This means that not only is it 3.44% harder to find a Bitcoin block subsidy, but the network’s mining difficulty has also hit another all-time high (ATH) by reaching 36.84 billion hashes.

Sunday’s increase follows the 13.55% increase in Bitcoin’s difficulty recorded when the network’s hash rate hit 35.6 billion hashes on Oct. 11, 2022. Blockchain.News reported on the matter. The 13.55% increase was the largest Bitcoin difficulty increase of 2022.

The new increase in mining difficulty means more competition as more miners come in to participate in the network and the mining process becomes more computationally demanding as more miners join. This also means that miners have to put in more computing power to mine a block.

Mining difficulty is automatically adjusted every block of 2016, approximately every two weeks to ensure a constant supply of newly minted coins. Therefore, the next difficulty update is scheduled for November 6.

Bitcoin mining difficulty reaching new highs puts additional pressure on struggling miners who are witnessing declining profits. Higher difficulty means additional computing power is required to mine a new block. The data shows that miners have generated approximately $420 million in revenue this month. In September, the miners brought about $550.5 million in revenue, down 16.2% from the previous month.

In the midst of a bearish period for the Bitcoin market, the hash rate and difficulty of mining new coins have reached an all-time high. This presents exciting new challenges and opportunities as mining companies, pools and individual miners look to the future. This period involved a trend of miner capitulation, as more individual and smaller companies began to take steps such as selling all of their mined coins for dollars to sustain their business operations.

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