Bitcoin’s “hash rate” measures the total processing power of the network at any one time. As more miners join the network, the hash rate increases. A strong hash rate is indicative of a secure blockchain, as hypothetical bad actors would need to acquire more resources to pull of a “51-percent attack.” When hackers stole $40 million worth of cryptocurrency from major exchange Binance earlier this year, many speculated they took Bitcoin specifically to avoid having their illicit transactions “rolled back” by colluding miners, which has been documented to happen on alternate blockchains like Bitcoin Cash. The booming hash rate comes less than a month since Bitcoin set an all-time record for highest mining difficulty, a setting that adjusts regularly to keep its blockchain producing a block once every 10 minutes, on average. It also occurs just as the dust begins to settle from Facebook’s audacious reveal of its new cryptocurrency Libra, which will be powered by its own “blockchain” (albeit, not based on Proof-of-Work.) Bitcoin, it seems, is content to plough ahead, with no fucks to give for Zuckerberg and his funny digital money. Who could have seen that coming?
