On Thursday, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty jumped by 3.22%, reaching an all-time high, while the network’s hashrate also increased to an all-time high. The difficulty changes every two weeks and indicates how difficult it would be for a miner to validate transactions on a block. A greater difficulty reading suggests that mining Bitcoin is more difficult. According to BTC.com data, the mining difficulty reading was 49.55 trillion at block height 790,272 in Thursday’s adjustment, up from a 1.45% decrease in the last adjustment on May 4. The difficulty of mining Bitcoin often increases as more miners come online, increasing competition. Miners are compensated in Bitcoin for confirming network transactions.