Bitcoin hash rate decreased by 32%, as the income of miners became significantly less after halving. This is one of the biggest corrections in history, and it can create certain security issues for the network.
If you do not understand what it is about, read the article: What is a hashrate (MHs or Hs) and why is it important?
Bitcoin hash decreases by 32%
Bitcoin hash rate over the past five days has dropped dramatically. Since May 10, it fell by more than 32%, falling from 136,098 million TH / s to 91,265 thousand TH / s.
Hash rate is a very important indicator of security. The more computing power in the network, the higher its security and the higher the resistance to a potential attack of 51%. Naturally, a significant decrease in this level makes the network more susceptible to security problems.
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As Blockchain-media reported before halving, this was one of the risks this event could bring. Of course, Bitcoin remains the most secure network, but with a decrease in the hash rate, it has become easier for someone to attack it.
In any case, the hashrate remains widely distributed, as shown in the pie chart below. Despite the fact that BTC.com, Pooling, F2Pool and AntPool remain the dominant leaders, none of them are even close to controlling 51% of the hash rate.
Miners' income halved
Another direct consequence of the halving was the decrease in income generated by miners. Since the block reward has been reduced to 6,25 BTC / block from 12,5 BTC / block, their income has more than halved.
As can be seen from the graph, revenue fell from 19,253 million on May 10 to 8,245 million on May 14.
Block reward reduction made Mining more expensive. The decrease in hashrate may be due to the shutdown of more equipment. However, the Bitcoin network is designed to adapt and adjust accordingly, which is why many experts believe that the upcoming mining difficulty adjustment will be especially severe, and this will significantly reduce the difficulty.
With a decrease in hashing speed, the average transaction confirmation time has also increased by more than 100% since May 10.