Bitcoin network sees biggest difficulty drop in two years
Asian stocks slumped as investors reacted to US services data, which fueled speculation about the Fed's decision to maintain a higher final interest rate.
The crypto market has plummeted with riskier assets amid concerns that inflation isn't slowing enough. As the assessment is being prepared, Bitcoin maintains $17,000 despite the 1.7% drop in the last 24 hours. Similarly, Ethereum bounced back to the $1,260 region after reporting a larger loss in the same period. With the exception of AXS, which challenged the broad base correction with a double-digit percentage loss, mid-to-large-volume altcoins have largely turned red.
Bitcoin network sees biggest difficulty drop in two years
The crypto market continues to be bleak. On the investment side, crypto fundraising has had its toughest month since the last bearish cycle. Total funding fell 84% compared to last year. Of the total funding, 33.4% went to CeFi, then 27.1% to infrastructure and 17.2% to Web3. DeFi's total funds lagged behind NFT despite getting an early start.
The Bitcoin network is experiencing the biggest drop in mining difficulty since the miner migration in 2021. Network difficulty dropped 7.2%, showing that many large companies are facing a struggling mining economy as profit margins continue to shrink amid rising energy costs and poor spot prices. The significant change in difficulty adjustment is likely due to the shutdown of devices that are no longer profitable. Analysts believe the industry could see further declines in the coming months as more devices go offline.
