There are a lot of exciting things happening within the Bitcoin network. All the programmed and predefined algorithms make it a living organism that adapts and evolves according to current conditions.
In this article, we take a look at something that’s not heavily discussed all so commonly – the lowest block hash values in BTC’s history.
What is the Bitcoin hash value?
To start, we first need to clarify what the hash value is. Bitcoin works on the basis of a consensus algorithm based on the proof-of-work model.
BitMEX Research puts forward a simple definition where the PoW consensus requires miners to attempt finding a block hash for each Bitcoin block with a low enough value to be considered valid.
This block hash value should be lower than the difficulty target, which in turn automatically adjusts once every two weeks or so. This is done to ensure that the expected wait time for a Bitcoin block is around 10 minutes. It should also be noted that the difficulty of mining BTC adjusts proportionally to the effort spent on the entire network.
As mentioned above – the block hash value needs to be lower than the target value of the difficulty. As the research points out – in some cases, this could be substantially lower. In any case, though, the block is still valid.
The blocks with the lowest hash value
BitMEX Research notes that block hash values, in general, get lower over time and the difficulty required increases.
This is in part because of the price appreciation and in part because mining machines become more and more efficient. The below table shows the 10 blocks with the lowest hash value in history:
As expected, these blocks have all been mined in recent years. The block with the lowest hash value ever recorded was produced on June 15, 2020 and it was mined by the Binance Pool at a block height of 634,842. Interestingly, this is the only Bitcoin block containing 23 leading zeros in its hexadecimal representation (what you typically see in block explorers) ever produced.
