<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Does hash power refers to mining nodes only?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>Exactly. Other nodes just make sure everything's OK, or they don't relay it.</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="2">
<li>We don't know how many nodes there are on the bitcoin network, correct? How do we count them?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>We can only count public nodes, but still, there are nonlistening nodes, nodes on the same IP, etc. So it not 100% accurate.</p>
<blockquote>
<ol start="3">
<li>Would we need to know [2] in order to figure out what the actual hashing power of the network is?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>Nope. We can calculate the total hashpower in two ways:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Visit each pool's website and add the hashing power. This method requires trust. On the contrary, it's accurate in practice.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Make an estimation using the network difficulty and the time between blocks. It's not very accurate.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<blockquote>
<ol start="4">
<li>What are the units of hashing power?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li>1: Hash/second: H/s &lt;--- Not even Hand-scale</li>
<li>1000000: Megahash/second: MH/s</li>
<li>1000000000: Gigahash/second: GH/s</li>
<li>1000000000000: Terahash/second: TH/s &lt;---ASIC-scale</li>
<li>1000000000000000: Petahash/second: PH/s</li>
<li>1000000000000000000: Exahash/second: EH/s &lt;---World-scale</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-13T14:53:19.160Z
how do we count the listening nodes practically ? What if we have nodes that are asleep and suddenly wake up for a massive attack ?
peter
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-13T17:05:57.690Z
By sending them requests. They can't do anything bad, they are not miners and have limited capabilities.
MCCCS
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-23T04:37:03.997Z
Shouldn't Megahash/second be 1000000?
Bolton Bailey
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-02-23T05:54:54.263Z
@BoltonBailey Sorry, updated it.
MCCCS
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-07-13T13:13:12.153Z
2021-03-07T17:08:46.567Z
2021-03-07T17:08:46.567Z
MCCCS
<ol>
<li><p>Does hash power refers to mining nodes only ?</p>
</li>
<li><p>We don't know how many nodes there are on the Bitcoin network, correct?
How do we count them?</p>
</li>
<li><p>Would we need to know [2] in order to figure out what the actual hashing power of the network is?</p>
</li>
<li><p>What are the units of hashing power?</p>
</li>
</ol>

<mining-theory><hashpower><terminology>
How is the current hashing power of the entire network measured in real time?
peter
# How is the current hashing power of the entire network measured in real time?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-07-13)

1. Does hash power refers to mining nodes only ?
2. We don't know how many nodes there are on the Bitcoin network, correct?
   How do we count them?
3. Would we need to know [2] in order to figure out what the actual hashing power of the network is?
4. What are the units of hashing power?

**Tags:** mining-theory, hashpower, terminology


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2018-07-13. Score: 3

> 1. Does hash power refers to mining nodes only?

Exactly. Other nodes just make sure everything's OK, or they don't relay it.

> 2. We don't know how many nodes there are on the bitcoin network, correct? How do we count them?

We can only count public nodes, but still, there are nonlistening nodes, nodes on the same IP, etc. So it not 100% accurate.

> 3. Would we need to know [2] in order to figure out what the actual hashing power of the network is?

Nope. We can calculate the total hashpower in two ways:

1. Visit each pool's website and add the hashing power. This method requires trust. On the contrary, it's accurate in practice.
2. Make an estimation using the network difficulty and the time between blocks. It's not very accurate.

> 4. What are the units of hashing power?

* 1: Hash/second: H/s <--- Not even Hand-scale
* 1000000: Megahash/second: MH/s
* 1000000000: Gigahash/second: GH/s
* 1000000000000: Terahash/second: TH/s <---ASIC-scale
* 1000000000000000: Petahash/second: PH/s
* 1000000000000000000: Exahash/second: EH/s <---World-scale

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: how do we count the listening nodes practically ? What if we have nodes that are asleep and suddenly wake up for a massive attack ?  
> **username_1**: By sending them requests. They can't do anything bad, they are not miners and have limited capabilities.  
> **username_2**: Shouldn't Megahash/second be 1000000?  
> **username_1**: @username_2 Sorry, updated it.  

---

