Bitcoin miners are again optimistic about the industry’s future as they have begun to power up their rigs again after shutting them off in the second half of 2022 due to diminishing returns. Evidence of an increased number of mining machines rejoining the Bitcoin network can be seen in the recent 10% increment in mining difficulty earlier this week, as highlighted below.

Bitcoin’s Hash Rate is Also at an All-time High

In an interview with Bloomberg, Matthew Schultz, executive chairman at crypto-mining company CleanSpark, confirmed that Bitcoin’s rising prices have contributed to the increment in mining difficulty and hashrate.

He said, ‘With the recent improvement in both Bitcoin prices and weather-adjusted energy costs, curtailment among the large miners has decreased, leading to an all-time high in network hash rate.’

Bitcoin’s hashrate continues to experience growth and is currently at all-time high levels.

Bitcoin has Erased All FTX-Linked Losses

Further checking the one-day BTC/USDT chart below, it can be observed that Bitcoin’s increment in difficulty and hashrate has coincided with BTC erasing all FTX-linked losses in the first half of January.

Bitcoin Needs to Either Consolidate Around $21k or Pullback to $20k to Continue Moving Up

Concerning price action, Bitcoin is on track to set a new record for its longest winning streak since 2013. BTC has had almost two weeks of continuous price growth so far, and such a parabolic run needs a corresponding healthy period of consolidation or a pullback to lower levels.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading confidently at the $21.4k price area and looks set to take on the $21,480 resistance on its path towards $22k.

However, a healthier path would be for Bitcoin first to consolidate for a few days above the $21k support or a drop to the $20k support area or even $19,500. The latter level also coincides with the position of the 200-day moving average (green), as highlighted in the chart below.

~By John P. Njui~