Bitcoin on-chain activity had been lit up like a Christmas tree over the weeks leading up to the Ethereum Merge. Even though the upgrade was not taking place on the bitcoin network, it was still significant for the crypto space, which led to increased activity across various networks. However, now that the Merge has been done and dusted, the network activity has begun to retrace to ‘normal’ levels, leading to a decline in on-chain activity. Bitcoin Mining Hashrate Drops For the first time in two months, the bitcoin mining difficulty had adjusted downward. Due to this downward difficulty adjustment of 2.1%, the block production rate remained low at 5.94 blocks produced per hour. It coincided with the bitcoin hash rate hitting a new all-time high before a reversal was recorded. Related Reading: Is Short Bitcoin ETF Exposure Gearing Up For A Squeeze? Nevertheless, the difficultly adjustment has come as good news to bitcoin miners who have been watching their revenues plummet in the last week. The average transaction per block was down 1.55% in a 7-day period from 1,786 to 1,759. BTC hash rate retraces from all-time high | Source: Arcane Research Bitcoin’s mining hash rate has now returned to early September levels, showing a retracement back to pre-Merge levels. But this hash rate remains on the high side even through this, showing increased conviction from bitcoin miners during this time. Revenues Take A Hit Bitcoin miners ...
