China’s miner exodus proves healthy for hash rate

The hash rate has made impressive gains after its initial drop, clawing back 82.5% of losses sustained after China’s ban on miners, according to YCharts. Although it hasn’t returned to previous highs just yet, experts believe the uptick bodes well.

Bitcoin’s hash rate—the unit which measures the processing power of the Bitcoin network—hit an all-time high in April, but fell dramatically when Chinese authorities across several provinces issued shutdown orders. This forced miners to set up elsewhere, with many relocating to regions with cost-effective energy usage such as the USA and Kazakhstan.

According to mining giant Slush Pool’s Edward Evenson, “over the next difficulty adjustments for the rest of the year, we can expect a slow and steady increase in the global network hash rate and, thus, an increase in Bitcoin mining difficulty.”