Bitcoin Difficulty Reaches All-Time High of 114.7 Trillion

Bitcoin (BTC) mining difficulty reached an all-time high of 114.7 trillion following a 5.6% increase. This comes as the Hash Ribbon metric indicates miner capitulation, suggesting that mining costs are exceeding profitability.

Miner capitulation began in early February.
Bitcoin's price is down over 4% month-to-date.
Historically, the Hash Ribbon signals local price bottoms.
If this trend continues, Bitcoin’s bottom could be around $91,000.
The last capitulation signal in October 2024 preceded a 50% price surge.

The rise in difficulty correlates with Bitcoin’s hash rate reaching an all-time high on February 4. Mining difficulty adjusts every 2,016 blocks to maintain an average block time of 10 minutes. Increasing difficulty intensifies competition among miners.

January production data shows Riot Platforms (RIOT) as the only major public miner with a month-over-month increase.