Bitcoin mining difficulty set to jump 6.44% on October 29
- —Difficulty climbs from 140.58 to about 149.6 trillion, with 1,250 blocks to the retarget
- —Two consecutive jumps of roughly 6% will lift difficulty 12.7% in 13 days
- —Three-day average hashrate is 1,048.7 EH/s; block time is 9 minutes 24 seconds
- —135,924 BTC in options expire October 30, or 35.3% of Deribit open interest
Why it matters: Higher difficulty raises miners' costs just as prices fall, while the October 30 options expiry could amplify volatility.
Source: CryptoTicker