%{{tag.tag}} {{articledata.title}} {{moment(articledata.cdate)}} @{{articledata.company.replace(" ","")}} comment Cryptoprowl / Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC ) mining difficulty has risen 15% despite the ongoing price collapse in the world's largest cryptocurrency. The latest rise in mining difficulty is the largest percentage increase since 2021, when a mining ban in China led to disruption and a 22% spike as the network stabilized. Difficulty adjustments measure how hard it is to mine a new block on the network. Mining difficulty recalibrates about every two weeks to ensure blocks continue to be produced about every 10 minutes, regardless of changes in the hashrate. The Bitcoin hashrate is the total computational power needed to secure the network. Mining activity in the U.S. recently suffered a setback after a severe winter storm swept across America and forced several major Bitcoin operations to scale back their power use. At the same time, the hash price, which is the revenue miners earn for producing Bitcoin, remains at a multi-year low, squeezing profitability. Despite the profitability pressure, large-scale operators with access to low-cost energy continue to mine Bitcoin around the world. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently announced that it has $344 million U.S. in unrealized profits from its Bitcoin mining operations. BTC is currently trading at $68,150 U.S.