Bitcoin’s recent price turbulence has not been emblematic of its underlying strength, as the cryptocurrency’s hash rate has been plowing higher throughout the past several weeks and months, just setting another fresh all-time high.
This metric’s growth signals that demand for the Bitcoin network is incredibly high at the moment, despite many of the cryptocurrency’s detractors stating that it is being overshadowed by Ethereum.
It is true that Ethereum has seen a spike in blockspace demand like never before, but this has come about due to the inflows of users that need to use ETH to transact on decentralized exchanges.
Bitcoin, on the other hand, appears to be seeing more organic usage, which also comes as more transaction begin taking place outside of exchanges. This may come from peer-to-peer transactions, or even over-the-counter deals taking place between large buyers.
The rising demand for the Bitcoin network is what has caused its hash rate to surge. This, in turn, is leading to an imminent +11% difficulty adjustment that is slated to take place this coming weekend.
Bitcoin Transactions are Rapidly Moving Off of Exchanges
As NewsBTC reported last week, transaction data shows that users are beginning to transact with BTC at a rapid rate off of exchanges.
This means that the network is being used more widely by users, with its utility stretching beyond just being used by speculative investors who buy BTC on an exchange and