Bitcoin mining difficulty recorded its steepest decline since China’s 2021 crackdown on the industry, falling by about 11% after a sharp drop in network hashrate driven by falling prices and widespread winter storm–related outages in the United States.
The adjustment lowered difficulty from more than 141.6 trillion to roughly 125.86 trillion, according to Blockchain.com data, signaling a significant reduction in the number of machines actively securing the network. Mining difficulty recalibrates roughly every two weeks to keep Bitcoin’s average block time near 10 minutes.
The decline comes as miners face mounting pressure. Bitcoin has fallen sharply from its October all-time high of $126,000 to around $69,500, compressing margins across the sector. Mining revenue per unit of computing power has been hit hard, with bitcoin revenue per petahash dropping by roughly half from about $70 at the peak to near $35.
Lower prices have forced many operators—particularly those running older equipment or paying high energy costs—to shut down machines. Others have redirected computing capacity toward artificial intelligence workloads, where large technology firms are offering long-term contracts with more predictable returns.
Bitfarms was among the most notable examples, with its shares rallying after the company said it is pivoting away from bitcoin mining toward data center development for high-performance computing and AI applications.
Severe winter storms, especially in Texas, further strained miners. Power grid operators issued curtailment requests to prioritize residential electricity use, prompting publicly listed mining firms to scale back operations. Some reported daily bitcoin production declines of more than 60%.
While sharp drops in mining difficulty can appear alarming, the mechanism is designed to be self-correcting. For miners that remain online, reduced competition can improve profitability and help stabilize operations.
Historically, large difficulty declines have also coincided with periods of miner capitulation, often preceding market stabilization or price rebounds as miners sell bitcoin to cover operating costs.
