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7 day average Bitcoin hash rate fell from a high of 231M to 206M TH/s.

https://www.blockchain.com/charts/hash-rate

Ethereum Network Hash Rate fell from a high of 1126 to 914.

https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_network_hash_rate

The numbers and dates provided in this article, which are not really possible to actually know, are at odds with hash rate data which is easy to observe.

> The numbers and dates provided in this article, which are not really possible to actually know, are at odds with hash rate data which is easy to observe.

Not necessarily. The lower BTC and ETH prices would pressure miners to clamp down even further on energy expenditure per hash, pushing energy use down even as hashrates hover around ATHs. You'd think miners were already minimizing energy per hash, but during a boom cycle it's arguably easier to get away with a bit more inefficiency than in a bust cycle.

How could the hash rate remain high while consuming less power? The only way that can happen is more power efficient hardware has come online at scale without fanfare.

If existing hardware had to be physically moved I would expect a far more significant plunge in hash rate to be observed.

> The only way that can happen is more power efficient hardware has come online at scale without fanfare.

Or less power efficient hardware got phased out due to the lower profit margins.

Yes, true, there could have been some old hardware that was worth using at very high prices, and is now unprofitable so it's off. For certain there is some of that.

Still, I'm surprised the drop isn't more pronounced... like how it looked in 2018

Without commenting on the numbers in the article, you _would_ expect the least efficient hardware to become untenable first, so the first 10% of hashing capacity removed will remove way more than 10% of the energy use.
Can't believe that I used to mine crypto myself. It wasn't worth the time and money I'd spent on it, I have to say, and I'm glad I decided to become an investor instead. I didn't even have to come up with a strategy, thanks to singularitydao, and it turned out to be highly profitable for me. When you don't have to worry about everything and track the exchange rate yourself because the app helps you succeed in trading and choose the right moment in which you can profit the most, and I think it's highly convenient.