Bitcoin quantitative analyst PlanB has published mining difficulty data showing that the price of BTC could hit $31,000 by the year 2021. 

BTC Price and Mining Difficulty

Mining difficulty has been historically used as an indicator for network resources and refers to the complexity of the equations being solved in validating bitcoin transactions and mining new BTC. Higher difficulty means more competition for miners in obtaining block rewards, which leads to greater computing power being devoted to securing bitcoin’s blockchain.

According to the analysis by PlanB, which combines bitcoin price statistics with mining difficulty, BTC undergoes regular difficulty cycles that correspond with changes in valuation. The price increase for bitcoin following a low in the difficulty cycle has decreased over time, rising 50,000% in late 2013 compared to 9,000% in December 2017. 

Given the relative low in mining difficulty for the current cycle, which occurred in December 2018, PlanB predicts that the price of BTC will top out again by 2021. 

Unfortunately, the predicted valuation range for bitcoin appears much more variable. PlanB said that the price of BTC could be anywhere from $30,000 to $300,000 at the next price top.