According to cryptocurrency mining pool Poolin, the fourth-largest active pool on the Bitcoin network, the floods completely destroyed the farm, leaving workers to rescue equipment from the silt left by the floodwaters.
Bitcoin network hash rate remains near all-time highs despite fresh turmoil in China as floods wipe out mining operators.
As various Twitter users reported on Aug. 20, the rainy season in China’s northwestern Sichuan province has spelled disaster for at least one Bitcoin mining farm.
“A local mining farm based in Sichuan, China was DEVASTATED by the recent heavy rainfall in the region”, officials wrote on Twitter.
Bitcoin mining farm ‘devastated’
Red Li, co-founder of China-focused crypto media outlet 8btc, added further photographic evidence of the floods, while noting the events had not impacted Bitcoin network performance.
“It seems that the hashrate is not affected much”, he summarized. Another Twitter account claimed mining giant Bitmain was also unaffected.
Mild compared to 2018 floods
As Cointelegraph reported, in July 2018, when major floods again claimed mining hardware, Bitcoin performance fell dramatically. As miners went offline, activity decreased along with the Bitcoin price, sparking a trough which at its lowest saw BTC/USD fall to just $3,100.
Since then, a rebirth has seen competition return, with hash rate – a measure of how much activity is involved from miners on the blockchain – consistently reaching record highs throughout 2019.
According to data from monitoring resource Bitinfocharts, hash rate stood at 79 quintillion hashes per second on Wednesday, with commentator Max Keiser forecasting price reacting as a result.
Bitcoin Hash Rate Hits a Whopping 80 Quintillion for the First Time
Bitcoin has passed another network performance milestone this week as the largest cryptocurrency’s hash rate hit a new record high.
Bitcoin secured by 80 quintillion hashes per second
Data from monitoring resource Bitinfocharts confirmed Bitcoin’s hash rate exceeded 80 quintillion SHA256 hashes per second Aug. 8, the first time such a level has been reached.
Hash rate refers to the amount of computing power used to validate Bitcoin transactions. The more power, the costlier it becomes for malicious actors to attack the network.
As Cointelegraph reported, hash rate has set multiple new all-time highs throughout recent months, reversing a downward trend which characterized the second half of the 2018 Bitcoin bear market.
The metric is one of many to set personal bests this year; difficulty and volume, among others, have also done so.
Greater security boosts investor confidence
Network strength in turn contributes to the overall bullish sentiment among Bitcoin proponents, who note that during the cryptocurrency’s all-time price high in December 2017, the same metrics were markedly lower.
As such, the argue, Bitcoin is better equipped for growth now than then, or at any point in its history.
When that growth will kick in remains uncertain, with opinions nonetheless coalescing around next May’s block size reward halving. Prior to that, miners will ensure that markets keep above the lows seen in the past year, with one analyst putting the floor at around $6,500.
