It just got harder and less profitable to mine for bitcoin
It just got harder and less profitable to mine for bitcoin. Every 2016 blocks, or about every two weeks, bitcoin resets how tough it is for miners to mine. Early Friday morning, as expected, the bitcoin code automatically made it about 7.3% more difficult to solve a block.
Historically speaking, this spike in difficulty is on the larger side, but it isn’t surprising, nor is it alarming. But it marks the first sizable increase since the Chinese mining ban took effect and serves as confirmation of a trend we already knew was underway: Some of the miners that used to be in China are finding new homes elsewhere.
And while it may not be quite as lucrative to mint bitcoin as it was before the algorithm self-corrected, miners are continuing to make way more money now than they were before China’s crypto crackdown in May. “Hashrate levels are still down 42.1% from the peak in May 2021 when the China exodus happened,” said Jason Deane, an analyst at crypto advisory firm Quantum Economics. That hashrate deficit means that those plugged into the bitcoin network right now are making bank.
Top Cryptocurrencies with Price Predictions
| # | Crypto | Prediction | Accuracy | CVIX | Price | 24h | 7d | Market Cap | 7d price change | |
| 1 |  BTC |
Bitcoin predictions | 64% | 76 | $23 414.18 | -0.57% | 1.32% | $451 444 140 453 |  |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 |  ETH |
Ethereum predictions | 65.6% | 64 | $1 660.60 | 0.87% | 3.91% | $203 213 799 353 |  |
|
| 3 |  USDT |
Tether predictions | 96% | 1 | $1.000139 | 0% | 0% | $68 038 057 989 |  |
|
| 4 |  BNB |
Binance Coin predictions | 81.2% | 39 | $332.21 | 2.49% | 7.92% | $52 455 756 881 |  |
|
| 5 |  USDC |
USD Coin predictions | 95.2% | 1 | $0.999870 | -0.01% | -0.02% | $41 954 575 977 |  |
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| 6 |  XRP |
XRP predictions | 76.4% | 51 | $0.410035 | 0.05% | -0.66% | $20 829 395 994 |  |
|
| 7 |  BUSD |
Binance USD predictions | 92.4% | 1 | $1.000093 | 0.02% | 0% | $16 273 786 064 |  |
|
| 8 |  ADA |
Cardano predictions | 69.2% | 69 | $0.401700 | 0.32% | 2.18% | $13 898 855 921 |  |
|
| 9 |  DOGE |
Dogecoin predictions | 74% | 48 | $0.093742 | 2.62% | 6.67% | $12 436 791 556 |  |
|
| 10 |  MATIC |
Polygon predictions | 68% | 64 | $1.23 | 4.02% | 7.27% | $10 780 259 861 |  |
|
| 11 |  STETH |
Lido stETH predictions | 96% | 1 | $2 941.39 | -0.40% | -3.32% | $10 258 752 564 |  |
|
| 12 |  SOL |
Solana predictions | 61.6% | 88 | $24.55 | 0.87% | -0.41% | $9 145 525 743 |  |
|
| 13 |  DOT |
Polkadot predictions | 64% | 74 | $6.94 | 5.67% | 5.23% | $8 000 392 092 |  |
|
| 14 |  SHIB |
SHIBA INU predictions | 64% | 79 | $0.000014 | 14.51% | 18.56% | $7 679 941 030 |  |
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| 15 |  LTC |
Litecoin predictions | 76.8% | 38 | $100.23 | 0.95% | 13.08% | $7 236 835 830 |  |
