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.

According to the source, 95% of Iran's crypto miners operate illegally, straining the national power grid. Source: X post dated Nov 2, 2025. Iran has previously curtailed electricity to crypto mining centers during peak demand to protect the grid, indicating elevated enforcement risk during stress periods. Source: Reuters, June 2022. For traders, curtailments can introduce short-term BTC hashrate variability and subsequent difficulty adjustments that affect block intervals and fee dynamics; Bitcoin difficulty adjusts roughly every 2016 blocks. Sources: Bitcoin.org protocol documentation; Reuters, June 2022. Actionable watchlist: monitor BTC hashrate and mempool fees, miner revenue per TH/s, and upcoming difficulty estimates for signs of network impact tied to Iran's grid strain and illegal mining prevalence. Sources: Bitcoin.org protocol documentation; X post dated Nov 2, 2025.