Bitcoin (BTC) hasn’t done too hot over the past few months, plunging some 50% since the June top of $14,000. The selling has stopped over the past few weeks, with the price of the leading cryptocurrency flatlining in the low-$7,000s, leading some to suggest that another leg lower is possible.
But it seems that the cryptocurrency and the ecosystem surrounding it want to start off 2020 with a bang.
Related Reading: Why Bitcoin Network’s Record 2019 Is Bullish For the Crypto Market
Bitcoin’s Hash Rate Rockets Higher
As noted by digital asset manager Charles Edwards, Blockchain.com, a cryptocurrency information and wallet service, found that Bitcoin’s hash rate — the measure of computational power processing BTC transactions — hit a new all-time high on the 1st day of 2020. The all-time high, 119 exahashes per second, or 119 with 18 zeroes after it.
This surge in the hash rate breaks the previous all-time high set more than two months ago in October, meaning that Bitcoin’s network is now stronger than ever before, marking an amazing start to 2020.
Bitcoin starting 2020 with a BANG.
Hash Rate hit a new all time high on 1/1/2020: 119M TH/s.
Finally broke above the last ATH set more than 2 months ago in October.
Bitcoin Network stronger than ever before 💪
Happy New Year! 🍾 pic.twitter.com/c0dfvewXfy
— Charles Edwards (@caprioleio) January 2, 2020
This hash rate surge to the upside has been reflected by Bitcoin’s network difficulty. As recently pointed out by Alistair Milne, a prominent cryptocurrency investor and commentator, Bitcoin’s difficulty just hit 13,798,783,827,516, up 6.57% in the past two weeks.
Bitcoin's way of saying Happy New Year:
New all-time high mining difficulty of: 13,798,783,827,516
(+6.57%)Average hashrate over the last ~14 days was 98.67 EH/s
— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) January 1, 2020
The record hash rate and mining difficulty add to the fact that 2019 was Bitcoin’s best year yet from a transactional standpoint.
Per previous reports from NewsBTC, TradeBlock, a cryptocurrency research firm, remarked that Bitcoin has seen a record year in terms of transactions sent and transaction volume denominated in USD.
The growth in transaction count seemingly stems from the growing adoption of the SegWit solution, allowing for more transactions to be put into each block, while the aggregate yearly Bitcoin transaction volume was aided by the price action over the past few months, which has forced exchanges and traders to use the network as a medium of payment.
Related Reading: China Continues Anti-Crypto Stance With Beijing Warning; Will it Work?
What it Means for BTC’s Price
So what does this mean for Bitcoin’s price outlook? Why does the growing hash rate indicate that a price explosion (to the upside) is likely on the horizon?
Well, the uptick in hash rate confirms that “miner capitulation,” which is when miners sell their BTC en-masse to keep their operations afloat, has ended and recovery has started.
According to the Hash Ribbons, an indicator tracking instances of miner capitulation, Bitcoin’s booming hash rate is signaling that now is a great time to buy BTC for the long run. While this may sound extremely arbitrary, “buy” signals printed by the Hash Ribbons have only taken place 10 times before in BTC’s history, preceding uptrends of thousands of percent.
Related Reading: Early Bitcoin Adopter Throws Cold Water On Halving Narrative; Here’s Why
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