Bitcoin’s mining difficulty dropped again over the weekend, meaning the challenge for miners seeking out the digital currency has fallen to its lowest level since June last year.
On Sunday, the Bitcoin blockchain network recorded its fourth downward adjustment in mining difficulty in a row, falling 4.8% to 13.7 trillion. However, the decline was not as sharp as the previous revision on July 3, which saw the difficulty level plunge nearly 28%.
READ: Bitcoin mining difficulty: How it's calculated and what happens when it gets easier
Bitcoin mining difficulty tends to decrease when there is less computing power dedicated to solving algorithms on the blockchain, meaning fewer miners are competing for the same crypto reward.
The recent difficulty drop has been attributed to a crackdown on crypto mining in China, which saw a large amount of computing power removed from the market and reducing competition for the remaining players.
However, fears of increased crypto regulation have also driven down Bitcoin prices, which have fallen around 45% since early May, thus making mining the digital currency less attractive and further reducing competition.
In lunchtime trading in London on Monday, Bitcoin was down 1.4% in the last 24 hours at US$31,253.