According to @VitalikButerin, rough calculations from average Bitcoin difficulty indicate the network’s cumulative mining has very recently crossed the 2**96 total hashes milestone, source: Vitalik Buterin on X, Dec 5, 2025. According to @VitalikButerin, this crossing is a strong reason to insist on close-to 128-bit security for cryptographic systems and he credits Justin Drake for advocating this standard, source: Vitalik Buterin on X, Dec 5, 2025. According to @VitalikButerin, traders can use this 128-bit security baseline as a concrete reference when evaluating the disclosed security parameters of chains, bridges, and protocols relative to Bitcoin’s proof-of-work, source: Vitalik Buterin on X, Dec 5, 2025.