Bitcoin Cash hash rate plummets by almost 70% after halving

After the long-awaited Bitcoin Cash halving, the network’s hash rate abruptly plummeted by almost 70%, in less than 24 hours, resulting in long hours of waiting for transactions to be confirmed.

According to data provided by 2Miners, BCH’s hash rate fell from 6.27 exahashes per second (EH/s) to 1.91 EH/s in just a day and a half, representing a decline of 69.5%. This drop means that a large portion of miners have abandoned the network due to the reduced profitability of BCH mining caused by the halving.

The halving, which took place on April 3, halved the Bitcoin Cash mining reward, from 6.25 BCH to 3.125 BCH, following the same model as Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Cash, originated in 2017 due to disagreements in the Bitcoin community, saw its transaction processing time increase to more than 140 minutes due to the disconnection of miners and the resulting drop in hash rate.

Bitcoin Cash

Despite the drop in hash rate, the price of BCH has seen a slight recovery since April 4th. The cryptocurrency registered a 3% increase, trading at USD 692.7 at the time of this report, according to CoinMarketCap.

Developers like Peter Todd have warned that the BCH hash rate situation is “not a good indication.” Todd even suggested that a similar scenario could occur with Bitcoin during its next halving, scheduled for April 20, 2024.

Despite being less likely in Bitcoin due to its dependence on transaction fees, Todd highlighted that the drop in BCH’s hash rate is not a good sign.

On the other hand, it is possible that some miners will find lost profitability in Bitcoin after the halving, migrating to Bitcoin Cash due to the similarity in mining algorithms and the possible reduction in difficulty. This could result in an increase in Bitcoin Cash’s hash rate.

Hash rate Index projections indicate that a disconnection of Bitcoin miners is expected after the halving, ranging from 3.7% to 16%, depending on the variation in the price of BTC after the event.