This week saw the rise of the Bitcoin network hashrate to unprecedented levels, which caused a burst of excitement from industry commentators and enthusiasts as technical support for the network continues to rise exponentially. The data from the blockchain formerly known as blockchain.info confirms the present hash rate has risen to the 52 Quintillion hashes per second mark. This is an industry record and marks a first for the Bitcoin network which hasn’t risen to those highs since its inception. 52 Quintillion is an unprecedented number of hashes and is indeed a very large figure for those who may not be familiar.
As one Twitter user rightfully pointed out, 52 Quintillion which is written as 52,000,000,000,000,000,000 is such a large sum that it makes it difficult for one to put it into perspective. The user retweeted the figure just to emphasize how monstrous the numbers were. In an attempt to help you put these numbers into perspective, note that the number of grains of sand on planet earth is estimated at about 7 quintillion, while it is also estimated that there are a total of 326 quintillion gallons of water on planet earth.
This unprecedented growth in Bitcoin hash rate marks a steady continuation of the acceleration of the cryptocurrencies hash rate this year. The rise in hash rate is almost the inverse of the crypto currency’s fortunes in terms of price. In the past three months alone, the blockchain data has pointed to a 60 percent rise in hash rate. The bitcoinist, which has been keeping tabs on the remarkable growth in hash rate reported a figure of 43 quintillion back in mid-June this year.
According to Max Keiser, popular host of the popular show, Russia Today, and a big crypto proponent, “price follows hash rate”. By this, he implied that the price of Bitcoin was set for a monumental rise based on the prevailing technical fundamentals. Just days after Max Keiser voiced his Bitcoin price opinion, the price of the maiden cryptocurrency improved by 15 percent. This excited and at the same time worried other crypto enthusiasts since it once again showed that thoughts by public figures could easily cause market volatility. In the face of such volatility, one must wonder what those bearish on crypto are thinking. They must think that crypto is nearing the bottom, said the former head of global emerging markets at insurance powerhouse AIG, Philippe M. Heilberg on his twitter.
Despite a price dip in the week that just came to a close, faith in Bitcoin’s short-term future is unrelenting. An announcement by ICE about the imminent creation and launch of a regulated digital asset platform reinforced the assertion that Bitcoin prices had bottomed.
