Why hash rate dropped so much?

[errornone]

See here: https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate

Why this happens?

[Denker]

Some miners went offline I guess.

[DannyHamilton]

It is impossible to know exactly what the global network hash rate is.  There is no verifiable way to count the exact number of hashes each miner on the network has calculated.

Instead, what sites like blockchain.info do is to estimate the hash rate based on the current difficulty and the time between solved blocks.  For a given difficulty, if the time between blocks increases then the site assumes that the hash rate is lower, and if the time between blocks decreases then the site assumes that the hash rate is higher.

While the hash rate my increase or decrease at various times due to many factors (change in bitcoin exchange rate, cheaper access to electricity at certain times, change in mining difficulty, improvements in hardware, etc).  The hash rate indicated on pages such as the one you linked are also effected by the natural variations in time between blocks that occur as a result of the random process of proof-of-work.

[Pk880058]

It is also possible that maybe a pool went down.
BTW decrease in hash rate shouldn't be happening now.
If this would have been halving block time then it would have been acceptable.

[mallard]

They all went to go mine ether

[1Referee]

It is also possible that maybe a pool went down.
BTW decrease in hash rate shouldn't be happening now.
If this would have been halving block time then it would have been acceptable.

If you look at the chart it shows more of these large swings. It's just temporarily. It will go back up again if it didn't already, nothing to worry about.

[BillyBobZorton]

It is impossible to know exactly what the global network hash rate is.  There is no verifiable way to count the exact number of hashes each miner on the network has calculated.

Instead, what sites like blockchain.info do is to estimate the hash rate based on the current difficulty and the time between solved blocks.  For a given difficulty, if the time between blocks increases then the site assumes that the hash rate is lower, and if the time between blocks decreases then the site assumes that the hash rate is higher.

While the hash rate my increase or decrease at various times due to many factors (change in bitcoin exchange rate, cheaper access to electricity at certain times, change in mining difficulty, improvements in hardware, etc).  The hash rate indicated on pages such as the one you linked are also effected by the natural variations in time between blocks that occur as a result of the random process of proof-of-work.

Judging by recent events, I would stop looking at blockchain.info for any facts. These guys have been running a flawed system to display transactions as seen with the current satoshi-addresses incident. Who knows what else they did wrong.

[spazzdla]

It is impossible to know exactly what the global network hash rate is.  There is no verifiable way to count the exact number of hashes each miner on the network has calculated.

Instead, what sites like blockchain.info do is to estimate the hash rate based on the current difficulty and the time between solved blocks.  For a given difficulty, if the time between blocks increases then the site assumes that the hash rate is lower, and if the time between blocks decreases then the site assumes that the hash rate is higher.

While the hash rate my increase or decrease at various times due to many factors (change in bitcoin exchange rate, cheaper access to electricity at certain times, change in mining difficulty, improvements in hardware, etc).  The hash rate indicated on pages such as the one you linked are also effected by the natural variations in time between blocks that occur as a result of the random process of proof-of-work.

Judging by recent events, I would stop looking at blockchain.info for any facts. These guys have been running a flawed system to display transactions as seen with the current satoshi-addresses incident. Who knows what else they did wrong.

...................
did you even read bro?
It's not possible to really know.. the system will always be "flawed" for figuring out hash rate...

[thebenjamincode]

I have the same issue.Hash rate fluctuating is always a mysterious issue. there is no clear answer. I just let it run hoping that it will go back. by the way what hardware and software are you using?

[pinball8]

may be that is just a issue.. not be true..i hope like that.
Holders looking to spend their bitcoins can now only dream of such purchasing power returning in the near future as miners produce bitcoins at a rate of 25 coins every 10 minutes and payment processors convert coins instantly to fiat to shield merchants from price uncertainty.

[Lauda]

Nonsense.

Stop posting outdated news that are not related to the current situation. The article was posted on January 14, 2015 at 09:58 BST. The current price of Bitcoin is ~ $280.
People do not need to worry about this, this is why a changing difficulty was introduced. I'm suspecting that either a single farm went down or a pool because of various reasons such as DDoS. Maybe someone felt like it wasn't profitable to mine at the moment and wait for a difficulty adjustment.

When the price isn't really moving upwards significantly then we can always expect the hashrate to bounce back down as shown in the chart.

[LiteCoinGuy]

See here: https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate

Why this happens?

CEO of BTC was arrested some days ago.

[oblivi]

My theory for this is simply this one: China holds most of the Bitcoins out there as well as mining power. Recently we are seeing the beginnings of the great China bubble burst. I think that the crash on the Chinese market will be hard enough to affect some Chinese Bitcoin miners as well thus lowering the average hash rate.

[LiteCoinGuy]

My theory for this is simply this one: China holds most of the Bitcoins out there as well as mining power. Recently we are seeing the beginnings of the great China bubble burst. I think that the crash on the Chinese market will be hard enough to affect some Chinese Bitcoin miners as well thus lowering the average hash rate.

I don't know about that, the chinese stock market seems to be in trouble but this shouldn't harm the mining operations as aren't tied to it. That and the production companies are able to turn money hand over fist, even if bitmain didn't self mine they would make a profit off production alone.

but people want an explanation. stock market down - hash rate down - legit 

[gogxmagog]

hasn't blockchain.info been outed as basically 100% inaccurate and unreliable? besides, the link in this thread doesn't show the hash rate decreasing on my end... it just isn't increasing as rapidly.

Most of the miners are in China, I wouldn't be surprised, as soon as they are not profitable any more, to see them simply throw all the hardware in the river. Not the most environmentally, sustainability concerned nation... (not that the rest of the world is much better, but the Chinese are particularly toxic in regards of disposal of old computer hardware.... there are whole towns and cities that are basically toxic waste dumps... people living right in it)

[odolvlobo]

It is disappointing that DannyHamilton posted the answer to the question, yet people continue to post nonsense.

[DannyHamilton]

It is disappointing that DannyHamilton posted the answer to the question, yet people continue to post nonsense.

I haven't seen any nonsense at all.

I assume you must mean all those posts that say "This user is currently ignored."?

Just reinforces my decision to ignore those participating in sig ad campaigns until I see something worthwhile from them. This forum has become almost usable and nearly worthwhile since I made that decision.

[franky1]

short answer:
28 days ago it was 339 peta.. today its 350peta...

i see no problems and its not worth sweating over the randomness of mining speeds,
tomorrow it maybe 380peta and the op will be asking why so high

you will just go insane endlessly watching the changes each day wondering about causes..

[odolvlobo]

It is disappointing that DannyHamilton posted the answer to the question, yet people continue to post nonsense.

He gave information on why it has changed on Blockchain.info and the way they guess the current hashrate but did not give his idea of why the hashrate could actually be down. Although yes most just repeated his information over, and now you have gone and put him on his high horse about  the ignore list. It was a good answer to OP's question but it leads to discussion and the spread of knowledge when others continue to post instead of a single answer and closed topic.

At the risk of explaining something you already know ...

The point of DannyHamilton's post was that graphs of network hash rate don't actually show hash rate, and that the OP is mistaken: there is no evidence that the hash rate has dropped. I think that is a valuable piece of knowledge that he shared with people.

Yet, despite pointing out that there is no evidence of a hash rate drop, various people have still attempted to explain the cause of something that hasn't happened. In contrast to DannyHamilton, they have done a disservice by promoting misconceptions and mythology.

[S4VV4S]

hasn't blockchain.info been outed as basically 100% inaccurate and unreliable? besides, the link in this thread doesn't show the hash rate decreasing on my end... it just isn't increasing as rapidly.

Most of the miners are in China, I wouldn't be surprised, as soon as they are not profitable any more, to see them simply throw all the hardware in the river. Not the most environmentally, sustainability concerned nation... (not that the rest of the world is much better, but the Chinese are particularly toxic in regards of disposal of old computer hardware.... there are whole towns and cities that are basically toxic waste dumps... people living right in it)

Nope, they wont.
They will sell it to whoever has been buying them so far.
And my guess is that they will sell out in no time