Bitcoin Network Hashrate Surges Past 74 Exahash as Miners Race Ahead of 2020 Halving

The Hardware/Software Landscape

July 2019 marked a turning point for Bitcoin mining hardware. The industry was in the middle of a massive generational upgrade cycle, with next-generation ASIC miners replacing older units at an unprecedented pace. Bitmain’s Antminer S17 series, MicroBT’s Whatsminer M20S, and Canaan’s AvalonMiner 1041 were all vying for dominance in a market hungry for efficiency.

The Antminer S17, released earlier in 2019, delivered approximately 56 TH/s at 2,520 watts, achieving an efficiency rating of roughly 45 joules per terahash. The Whatsminer M20S competed closely with 68 TH/s at around 3,360 watts. These machines represented a significant leap over the previous generation of S9 miners, which maxed out at 14 TH/s while consuming 1,375 watts. For miners still running S9 units, the efficiency gap made upgrading not just attractive but economically necessary.

ASIC manufacturers reported demand for mining machines at nearly three times their production capacity during this period, echoing the hardware gold rush of late 2017. The surge was driven by Bitcoin’s price recovery to approximately $9,900, which made even newly ordered hardware immediately profitable at most electricity rates. Supply chain bottlenecks meant wait times of several months for new units, creating a secondary market where used and refurbished miners commanded premium prices.

Hashrate & Difficulty

Bitcoin’s network hashrate reached a new all-time high in early July 2019, touching the 74.5 exahash per second threshold. This represented a dramatic increase from the roughly 40 EH/s recorded at the start of the year, reflecting both the deployment of new hardware and the return of miners who had shut down operations during the bear market of 2018.

The mining difficulty adjusted upward by 7 percent in the correction that took place on June 27, 2019, raising the threshold to well above the previous record set in October 2018. The difficulty adjustment arrived one day ahead of schedule because blocks were being mined faster than the 10-minute target. During the peak hashrate periods, average block times dropped to approximately 8 minutes, significantly below the theoretical average. This accelerated block production triggered the early difficulty adjustment.

On average, a mining difficulty epoch spans approximately 14 days, corresponding to 2,016 Bitcoin blocks. The most recent epoch before the July adjustment lasted just under 13 days, a clear indicator of how rapidly hashrate was growing. The difficulty was rising to keep pace, ensuring that the network maintained its target block interval regardless of how much computational power miners threw at it.

Profitability Metrics

Miner revenues in July 2019 were climbing steadily thanks to the combination of Bitcoin’s price near $9,900 and the block reward of 12.5 BTC. At current prices, each block represented approximately $123,750 in revenue before electricity costs. With roughly 144 blocks mined per day, the total daily mining revenue across the network exceeded $17.8 million.

For individual miners operating efficient hardware, the economics were compelling. An Antminer S17 running at 56 TH/s with electricity at $0.05 per kilowatt-hour — a rate achievable in regions like Sichuan, Washington state, and parts of the Middle East — could generate meaningful daily profits. The return on investment timeline for new hardware purchases had compressed from over a year during the bear market to just a few months.

However, the profitability landscape was not uniform. Miners in regions with higher electricity costs, particularly those still running older S9 hardware, faced breakeven or loss-making operations. The difficulty increases were steadily squeezing out inefficient miners, creating a natural selection pressure that favored operations with access to both cheap power and modern hardware. This dynamic was one of the key drivers behind the geographic consolidation of mining operations in low-cost energy regions.

Environmental Impact

The surging hashrate brought renewed attention to Bitcoin’s energy consumption. With the network consuming an estimated 70 to 75 terawatt-hours annually at July 2019 levels, the environmental debate intensified. Critics pointed to the carbon footprint of coal-powered mining operations in China, which still dominated global hashrate distribution at roughly 65 percent of total output.

However, the mining industry was increasingly turning toward renewable energy sources. Hydroelectric power in China’s Sichuan and Yunnan provinces powered a significant portion of global mining during the rainy season, when excess hydroelectric capacity made electricity virtually free. Mining operations in Iceland, Norway, and parts of Canada were running almost entirely on geothermal and hydroelectric power, demonstrating that large-scale mining could be compatible with low carbon emissions.

The efficiency improvements in new-generation hardware also played an environmental role. The S17’s 45 joules per terahash represented a substantial improvement over the S9’s 98 joules per terahash. As the network upgraded, the hashrate-per-watt ratio improved, meaning that each unit of energy was being used more productively. This trend suggested that while total energy consumption might continue growing with hashrate, the efficiency of that consumption was steadily improving.

Strategic Outlook

The hashrate surge in mid-2019 carried significant forward-looking implications. Most notably, the Bitcoin halving was less than a year away, scheduled for May 2020. The block reward would drop from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC, effectively cutting miner revenue in half overnight at any given price level. The aggressive hardware deployment and hashrate expansion suggested that miners were positioning themselves for the post-halving landscape, building efficient operations that could remain profitable even with reduced block rewards.

Historically, hashrate growth had often preceded price increases. In 2019, both hashrate and mining difficulty began climbing as early as January, months before Bitcoin’s substantial price rally took off in April. Some analysts interpreted this as a leading indicator, suggesting that informed capital was flowing into mining infrastructure in anticipation of higher prices.

The competitive dynamics were also shifting. Chinese mining pools maintained their dominance, with F2Pool, Poolin, and BTC.com collectively controlling over 40 percent of global hashrate. But new entrants and geographic diversification were reshaping the landscape. The growth of mining operations in North America, Central Asia, and Northern Europe pointed toward a more distributed future for Bitcoin’s security infrastructure, one that would be less dependent on any single country’s regulatory environment.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency mining involves significant risk, including hardware costs, electricity expenses, and regulatory uncertainty. Readers should conduct their own research before making any investment decisions.