As the hash rate of the Bitcoin (BTC) network continues to recover as global miners build more capacity, it is becoming increasingly difficult to mine the cryptocurrency.

In 21, the Bitcoin network released another adjustment to the mining difficulty level, increasing 3.2% to a difficulty level of nearly 19 trillion, according to data from blockchain explorer BTC.com.

The latest correction marks the fifth consecutive increase in Bitcoin’s mining difficulty since mid-July, with the difficulty rate increasing by more than 31% from around 13.7 trillion, the lowest difficulty level since June 2020.

The new positive corrections follow a series of four consecutive difficulty declines that began with a nearly 16% decline in late May amid global ESG-related concerns about Bitcoin as well as the Bitcoin crash. China’s Nationwide Pressure on Cryptocurrency Mining.

Despite 5 consecutive positive corrections, the current difficulty rate of Bitcoin mining is still far from the all-time high of over 25 trillion that was recorded in May 2021.

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty is a metric that reflects the difficulty in mining a Bitcoin block, with higher levels of difficulty requiring more processing power to verify transactions and mine coins. The difficulty adjustment happens every 2,016 blocks, or roughly every two weeks, as Bitcoin is programmed to adjust itself to keep the target block time at 10 minutes.

Related: Bitcoin mining is estimated to account for 0.9% of global carbon emissions by 2030

The steady increase in BTC mining difficulties goes hand in hand with the significant increase in the Bitcoin hash rate, the total combined computing power used to mine and process BTC transactions. Bitcoin hash rate soared to 150 exahashes (EH / s) in late August after falling to a low of 52 EH / s in June, rebounding to early June levels, showing that miners are heading for China Raid back online.