The difficulty of Bitcoin mining has dropped by 5%: what is behind the correction?
After another scheduled recalculation, the mining difficulty of the first cryptocurrency decreased by 5%, reaching 127.17 T. This is a significant drop, which, however, came as no surprise to attentive market observers.
The dynamics of the indicator in recent months have resembled a roller coaster. In mid-June, we saw a collapse of 10.09%, followed by a confident rebound of 7.15%. The current decline looks like a natural correction after a period of instability.
Since the beginning of the year, difficulty has fallen by 17% — from 148.26 T. Compared to the all-time high of 155.27 T recorded in October 2025, the gap reaches an impressive 22%. This suggests that miners are gradually adapting to new market realities.
At the time of the analysis, the average network hashrate had recovered to levels above 1 ZH/s, and the block interval had shortened to nine minutes. Notably, the smoothed seven-day moving average hashrate, according to analytical platforms, stands at 864.4 EH/s. This is below the peak values of October, when network power reached 1.15 ZH/s, and a steady downward trend has been observed since then.
Against the backdrop of declining difficulty, hashprice — a key indicator of mining profitability — has risen from ~$30 to ~$32 per PH/s per day. This is a slight improvement, but the metric still lags noticeably behind the $40 mark, which is considered an approximate breakeven threshold. The rebound from the local lows of early this month around $27 per PH/s per day gives miners some breathing room but does not solve fundamental problems.
My analysis: The current difficulty correction is not just a technical point but a reflection of deep-seated processes in the industry. Miners continue to redistribute capacity, and pressure on profitability is driving them to seek alternative sources of income. The shift to the AI sector, which we are observing, is not a temporary phenomenon but a strategic trend that will intensify as competition in Bitcoin mining tightens.