Bitcoin News and Finance: What You Need to Know

  Bitcoin’s network has been putting miners through the wringer lately, with five straight difficulty increases that had them on edge. However, on May 4, 2023, at block height 788,256, the network difficulty level took a dip, dropping by 1.45% and bringing the overall difficulty down to 48.01 trillion for the next two weeks. Bitcoin Difficulty Takes a Dip After Five Straight Increases Bitcoin’s difficulty level finally dropped on May 4, 2023, after increasing five times since the February 24 increase of 9.95%. The five difficulty increases combined equated to a 22.62% increase, and the latest drop brings it down 1.45% lower . The change occurred at Bitcoin block height 788,256. At the time of writing, the network’s hashrate is 355.90 exahash per second (EH/s). Just two days ago, the Bitcoin network hit a major milestone as its hashrate soared to an all-time high of 491 EH/s at block height 787,895. But with the next difficulty adjustment just around the corner on May 18, 2023,...

Bitcoin mining rig manufacturers are dealing with a semiconductor supply crunch according to regional reports stemming from China. There’s been a global semiconductor supply shortage and it’s affecting nearly every type of business in the supply chain that manufactures cars, PCs, laptops, smartphones, and cryptocurrency mining devices. Moreover, the recent shortage has invoked the demand for second-hand and older generation mining rigs. Semiconductor Shortage Complicates Mining Rig Manufacturing Currently, the world is dealing with a semiconductor supply crunch which has been spurred by the aftermath of Covid-19 and the lockdowns. Automobile makers, PC manufacturers, smartphone production, and almost every electronics manufacturer under the sun is dealing with this issue. For instance, reports detail that auto giants like Toyota Motors, Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen, and more have been chomping at the bit to obtain microchips from suppliers like TSMC. On January 27, 2021, the financial...