Even if prices are wishy-washy, it appears as if Bitcoin (BTC) network is being bulwarked. More miners are entering as mining difficulty rise.

In 2019, Bitcoin has been recording new levels in both price and mining difficulty. Unfortunately, towards the end of last month, the price of Bitcoin lost its steam to towards the $10K mark. In contrast, the mining difficulty is on the rise and well observed by a keen Twitter user:

“Bitcoin mining difficulty has just hit an all-time high. The network is stronger than ever.”

Bitcoin mining difficulty has just hit an all-time high.

The network is stronger than ever.

🚀🚀🚀 pic.twitter.com/cWgMtQ5xZ3

— Kevin Rooke (@kerooke) May 31, 2019

On May 31, the Bitcoin mining difficulty rose by 11.26 percent to reach a new difficulty level of 7.46T from a previous difficulty of 7.45T. The increase in the mining difficulty was recorded in Token Insight’s report for the first quarter of 2019.

The report titled “Cryptocurrency Mining Industry Quarterly Report,” noted that:

“Difficulty adjustments during the first and second quarter of 2019 are to be expected. The last bull market period of BTC leads to a large remnant of hash power, which is impossible to be multiplied by the capacity of Samsung and TSMC chips. BTC mining has an average network hash rate of 45.76EH/s and a current difficulty of 6.39T, which is expected to exceed its previous record-high of 7.46T, corresponding to an average hash rate of 53.33 EH/s.”

The Hash Rate Will Increase By 50 Percent

Additionally, Token Insight anticipates that the mining hash rate would increase by between 30 and 50 percent by the end of the year.

The mining difficulty can roughly be an indication of increased activities by Bitcoin miners. Consequently, the BTC network may be considered more secure than before since there are more parties to validate transactions. The increase in miner activities on the BTC platform may be influenced by the rise in the price of Bitcoin since the year started. Towards the end of last year, miners were seen as turning off their rigs due to the falling prices.

Unfortunately, although the overall hash rate has increased, it does not indicate an increase in the number of miners. Neither does it suggest that those who had switched off their rigs are back online. Instead, at this point, there are many theories to support the increase in the hash rate hence the rise in mining difficulty.

A New ASIC Is in Use

One of those theories indicates a possibility that a new BTC mining ASIC with a higher hash rate has been deployed. Additionally, some Bitcoin mining pools have recorded an increase in hash rate. For instance, ViaBTC recorded a 50 percent increase in the hash rate.

Despite the increase in hash rate and mining difficulty, unconfirmed transactions are on the rise. At some point on May 31, these transactions reached 25 million. Therefore, those sending and or receiving BTC may wait a little while longer before their accounts are updated.

According to Token Insight:

“By conservative estimation, by the end of 2019, BTC mining hash rates could grow by 30 percent at most to 59EH/s with difficulties rising to 8.31T. In an optimistic estimate, by the end of 2019, BTC mining hash rate could grow by 50 percent at most to 68EH/s with difficulty rising to 9.59T.”

Among the notable millionaires who made their fortunes off cryptocurrency, Charlie Shrem is a polarizing figure. A staunch supporter of bitcoin and the cryptocurrency space, Shrem spent two years in prison for activity related to an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Shrem even announced plans to continue to invest in the cryptocurrency space but to diversify his holdings and transfer his bitcoin profits toward real estate investments. He has also returned to the industry with a number of new projects and ventures.

He recently said that comparing altcoins with Bitcoin is a misleading argument and we have to focus on transaction speeds.

“Transaction speeds” when debating #bitcoin vs other faux-crypto’s is red herring argument. There were plenty of fast ways to move money before bitcoin. That’s not why we’re here. We’re building a censorship resistant value network that can-never be controlled by a single party.

— Charlie Shrem (@CharlieShrem) May 25, 2019

Bitcoin claims that “It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen.” Bitcoin has no central control: no central repository of information, no central management, and, crucially, no central point of failure. And yet, most of the actual services and businesses built within the Bitcoin ecosystem are centralized. They are run by specific people, in specific locations, with specific computer systems, and they are susceptible to specific legal entanglements.

As such, most altcoins offer no benefit over Bitcoin at all. Plus, they have less hash power securing them, involve fewer developers improving them and are usually less useful due to smaller network effects. And while many altcoins promise useful features, upon closer inspection, many of these promises are just that: promises.

The altcoin market has been consolidating at a collective market cap at around $100 billion.  That, combined with the fact that BTC hit historical resistance at about 60% dominance. The fact that the bulls succumbed to this resistance even after bitcoin’s parabolic run tells us that the index is still bearish. These signals tell us that the Bitcoin Dominance Index has topped off and is likely to correct in the near future. This assumption plays well with our narrative that alt season is not yet over.”

The announcement on Monday about the delay of the decision on the Bitcoin ETF from VanEck has caused some doubts. This delay is making it the third time from the SEC. We think that the commission might be confused about how to treat the ETF. Maybe, they are contemplating whether to reject since the proposal has been on their table since last year. Let’s recall that the company withdrew the proposal in January when there was a government shut-down. In March, when they made the same proposal, SEC rejected it because it needs extra time and more feedback.

Reactions After The Third Delay By SEC

We recall that at the beginning of this month, Bitwise proposed a Bitcoin ETF but SEC delayed its ruling too.

A VanEck/MVIS director, Gabor Gurbacs, went on Twitter to express his grievances on what SEC is doing. According to his tweets, the commission is trying to play god instead of doing their jobs. Gabor went further to state that SEC should do its job of reviewing the appropriateness of products. Afterward, it should leave the public to accept or reject. The commission should not be responsible for deciding whether the product has merits or not.

The next date for the decision like we learned from the previous announcement is the 19th of August. However, insiders in the crypto community are constantly monitoring the revival of Bitcoin since this year began. From what they’ve seen so far, they don’t believe that one ETF will be responsible for turning things around.  Also, they think that SEC may not even decide as we expect by August.

Authority Figures Express Disappointment

Another figure who reacted to the delay is an Attorney who deals on litigations concerning blockchain tech and digital assets. According to Attorney Chervinsky, the commission may likely delay its decision again until October 18th which is the last deadline.

Also, a prominent figure in the industry has aired his views on the delay tactics which SEC is employing. According to the CoinList co-founder, Andy Bromberg, the Bitcoin ETF may not be as important as we thought anymore.

Other authority figures made comments mostly expressing their disappointments over the third time delay of the VanEck Bitcoin ETF. For instance, Bloomberg stated clearly while speaking with Yahoo Finance that the industry has entered a new level. As such, it may no longer mind the ETFs.

SEC Needs Time To Understand the Industry Better

From what is happening, it seems that the commission is gradually learning about the crypto space. It is trying to understand the complexities in the industry and also get to know more about the players. Remember that in early May, SEC also delayed its decision on the Bitcoin ETF that came from Bitwise.

Moreover, the commission has reached out to the public to get more insights to guide its decision. SEC has listed some critical questions for the general public to answer so that they can decide on the ETFs.

To get full access to the questions, you have to visit https://www.sec.gov/rules/sro/cboebzx/2019/34-85896.pdf.

Also, to make your comments back to the Security and Exchange Commission, you can also visit https://www.sec.gov/rules/submitcomments.htm

The two links above are SEC’s official pages treating the issue of the ETF pending decisions. The community may yet get a positive answer on the October deadline. If that will be the case, the public comments need to be positive.