Bitcoin's average hashpower — computational resources devoted to mining new data blocks — reached a record high of about 117.5 exahashes per second (EH/s) over the past week, up about 5 percent from where it had stagnated for the prior month, according to data from Poolin, one of the world's biggest mining pools.
The processing power is growing slowly as major Chinese miner manufacturers are gradually resuming business after the coronavirus outbreak delayed shipments.
Some observers, such as the popular analyst Max Keiser, say that price follows hash rate. So far, however, that correlation has failed to play out.
The cryptocurrency's corrective bounce from recent lows near $8,400 ran out of steam above $8,900 earlier this week. Currently, bitcoin is changing hands at $8,730, down nearly 17 percent from the high of $10,500 set in February.
Price gyrations have a significant impact on mining profitability. A sustained slide often hurts small and inefficient miners, forcing them to shut down operations, leading to a drop in the hash rate. | 
