Hashrate

Hashrate is a measure of the computing power used to secure a blockchain network in the Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism, such as Bitcoin. It represents the number of hashing operations (attempts to solve a cryptographic puzzle) performed by miners per second. The higher the hashrate, the greater the competition in the network and the harder it is to mine new blocks.

Hashrate is a key security indicator for a blockchain—higher computing power makes it more difficult to execute a 51% attack, where a single entity gains control over the network. It is measured in units such as hashes per second (H/s), kilohashes (kH/s), megahashes (MH/s), scaling up to terahashes (TH/s) and petahashes (PH/s) for large mining farms. Hashrate fluctuates based on the number of active miners and the mining difficulty, which is automatically adjusted by the network.