Hashrate

In plain words

Hashrate is the combined guessing speed of every Bitcoin miner — how many tries per second the whole world makes at the mining puzzle. Today that's quintillions of guesses every second, from warehouses of specialized machines. The higher it climbs, the more an attack costs, because an attacker must outrun all of it. It can't be measured directly — only estimated from how fast blocks arrive.

Why it matters

• The security budget made visible: more hashrate, costlier attacks.
• Explains difficulty: it exists to hold this force at ten-minute blocks.
• Watching it shows miner conviction better than headlines do.

Go deeper

• Proof of work
• Difficulty adjustment
• ASIC