Satoshi Gazette
Glossary

Hashrate

An estimate of the total computing work the Bitcoin network is doing, inferred from how fast blocks arrive against the current difficulty.

Definition dated

also network hashrate · EH/s

Nobody can count the machines. Hashrate is inferred: given the difficulty, the observed block interval implies a rate of hashing, quoted in exahashes per second. Daily estimates smooth the luck of block discovery; short windows are noisy.

The mining desk publishes complete-UTC-day estimates and compares equal windows rather than quoting a single day's figure, and it says plainly that this is not a measurement of installed hardware.

More observed work per second does not identify its location, owner or cause.