Bitcoin’s hashrate has posted its first first-quarter decline in six years, ending a long streak of early-year growth — though the shift could ultimately favor greater network decentralization.
The total computational power securing the BTC network, now around 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s), is down roughly 4% year-to-date, according to Glassnode. Over the past five years, hashrate surged from about 100 exahashes per second (EH/s) — a tenfold increase — with first-quarter gains consistently driving annual growth above 10%. In 2022, the network’s power nearly doubled.
The slowdown in 2026 reflects changing economics in bitcoin mining. Production costs are hovering near $90,000 per bitcoin, while spot prices remain around $67,000, squeezing margins. In response, many publicly traded U.S. miners are pivoting to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing operations, which offer more predictable and higher returns.
This shift is being financed through debt issuance and bitcoin sales, leaving less capital for reinvestment in mining. As a result, hashrate growth has become more sensitive to BTC prices, with weaker prices likely to drive additional declines as smaller miners exit.
Although falling hashrate can raise concerns about network security, decentralization may be more important than absolute size. U.S.-listed miners currently control over 40% of global hash power, and a reduction in their influence could make the network more geographically distributed, supporting long-term resilience.
Despite the Q1 dip, CoinShares projects that bitcoin’s hashrate could recover to roughly 1.8 ZH/s by the end of 2026 if BTC approaches $100,000.
