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Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Edges to All-Time High

The bump in mining difficulty comes as hashrate remains strong, despite bitcoin’s price edging downward.

Updated May 11, 2023, 6:47 p.m. Published Sep 14, 2022, 5:17 a.m.
(Midjourney/CoinDesk)
(Midjourney/CoinDesk)

On-chain data shows that bitcoin’s (BTC) mining difficulty has crossed an all-time high with its latest jump, the second in two weeks.

  • Bitcoin’s mining difficulty increased by 3.45% at block height 753,984 to 32.05 trillion hashes.
  • This is the second significant recent increase. On Aug. 31, the difficulty jumped by 9.26%.
  • Given bitcoin’s compressed value, with recent declines on high CPI numbers, and a possible bottoming out as low as $10,000, profitability is narrowing for miners.
  • Despite concerns about profitability, the average hash rate remains above 200 exahash per second at 229.39 EH/s, close to the all-time high of 231 EH/s.
BitBitcoin: Mean hashrate (7-day moving average) (Glassnode)
BitBitcoin: Mean hashrate (7-day moving average) (Glassnode)
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  • On-chain data shows that Digital Currency Group-owned Foundry USA is currently contributing 28% of the total global hash rate followed by AntPool at 16.15%.
  • CoinDesk is an independent subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, the crypto-focused conglomerate that also owns Grayscale and TradeBlock.

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Exchange Review - March 2025

Exchange Review March 2025

CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.

What to know:

Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.

  • Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
  • Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions. 
  • Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.

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ETH's price chart. (TradingView/CoinDesk)

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