Bitcoin’s hashrate hit beast mode this week, flexing a record-smashing 1,109 exahash per second (EH/s) because the community cranked its computational biceps tougher than ever. In the meantime, Bitcoin’s hashrate fireworks are lighting up merge mined neighbors too, with Namecoin, Rootstock, and Fractal Bitcoin all hitching a experience on the rocket and scoring monster boosts of their very own.
How Merge Mining Has Unleashed 700+ EH/s Energy Performs
Because of merge mining—aka auxiliary proof-of-work (AuxPoW)— Bitcoin’s hashrate isn’t a one-trick pony. Miners can flex the identical computational grind to lock down a number of chains without delay, turning their application-specific built-in circuit (ASIC) rigs into multitasking machines.
Just lately, Bitcoin has formally stomped into the zettahash per second (ZH/s) period, the place immediately’s miners are collectively pumping out a mind-bending 1,000 EH/s. That tidal wave of hashpower isn’t simply bulking up Bitcoin—it’s juicing Namecoin, Rootstock, and Fractal Bitcoin too, as immediately’s heavyweight mining swimming pools moonlight throughout these facet gigs whereas flexing their mainnet muscle.
Take Namecoin, the OG altcoin born in 2011—it rides shotgun with Bitcoin via merge mining and has for years. Proper now, it’s flexing 732 EH/s, and at block 791037 final week, it cranked out an all-time excessive of 786.98 EH/s. Clocking in at 786.98 EH/s, Namecoin’s peak hash isn’t only a mere blip—it outmuscles the mixed energy of a number of of immediately’s high proof-of-work (PoW) networks.
Rootstock (RSK) hashrate at 9:25 a.m. Jap on Sept. 29, 2025.
Rootstock, a Bitcoin sidechain constructed for good contracts with its RBTC token pegged 1:1 to BTC, is one other huge winner from Bitcoin’s towering hashrate. Utilizing merge mining, it faucets into Bitcoin’s safety whereas miners pocket RSK transaction charges alongside their BTC rewards. At current, Rootstock is clocking roughly 822.92 EH/s.
In different phrases, Namecoin is driving on about 69.3% of Bitcoin’s present 1,057 EH/s, whereas Rootstock is locking down a stable 77.85%—critical hashpower hand-me-downs from the massive chain. Fractal Bitcoin (FB) is not any slouch both, pulling in 768.91 EH/s from Bitcoin’s overflow.
FB runs on a hybrid setup—merge mined alongside Bitcoin, but additionally mined by itself. Framed as a Bitcoin scaling answer, it stacks recursive layers constructed from Bitcoin Core code, aiming to stretch the chain’s attain with out breaking its base.
Altogether, Bitcoin’s march into the zettahash period isn’t simply flexing its personal dominance—it’s lifting a couple of ecosystems in its wake. With a number of networks siphoning off huge parts of that hashrate, merge mining has confirmed itself greater than a technical footnote—it’s a full-blown multiplier of safety and scale throughout a number of PoW networks.
