July 2026 became a landmark month for Bitcoin mining. Network difficulty dropped twice in a row, while hashprice—a key indicator of potential revenue—surged by nearly 16%. This combination of factors created strong support for the economics of mining the first cryptocurrency, which had previously been under prolonged pressure from a weakening exchange rate.

Difficulty and Hashprice: An Anomaly Not Seen Since 2021

Two consecutive negative difficulty adjustments in July is a rare event in itself. First, on July 11, the metric fell by 5%, and then on July 25, it dropped another 0.74%. As a result, by the end of the month, difficulty settled at 126.23 TH/s. This continues the volatility that began back in June, when difficulty plunged by 10.09% on the 14th and partially recovered on June 27, adding 7.15%.

Notably, a decline in difficulty relative to the level of a year earlier is an almost unique phenomenon. In the entire history of Bitcoin, this has been observed only once before, in 2021, when China's mining ban caused a massive shutdown of capacity. Now, however, the drivers are different: the changed mining economics amid the falling exchange rate and hashprice, the flow of investment and energy infrastructure into AI/HPC projects, as well as temporary shutdowns of some capacity and regional electricity restrictions.

Against this backdrop, hashprice showed impressive growth: from $27.60 to $31.93 per 1 PH/s per day from June 30 to July 31, equivalent to an increase of approximately 15.69%. The Bitcoin exchange rate stabilized during this period: the monthly average was $63,931.98, adding $752.45 compared to June. The trading range was from $60,150.01 to $66,433.19.

Profitability Ranking: Who Leads

The absolute leader in profitability in July was the Bitmain Antminer S21 XP 270 TH/s, which also retained its top position for the first half of the year. Its metrics:

  • Bitmain Antminer S21 XP 270 TH/s — 1.12% per month (13.42% annually), mined 0.0038313 BTC.
  • Bitmain Antminer S21 PRO 234 TH/s MIX — 0.38% per month (4.56% annually), mined 0.00332046 BTC.
  • MicroBT Whatsminer M70 222 TH/s — 0.24% per month (2.92% annually), mined 0.00315018 BTC.

The full picture across all current models is as follows:

(A table with data on all models, their price, mining output, revenue, expenses, profit, and profitability should be here)

The spread in mining output among the reviewed devices ranged from 0.00289476 to 0.0038313 BTC per month. It is obvious that even with improved overall mining conditions, the final profitability still critically depends on the energy efficiency and characteristics of the specific equipment. Models with high power but low efficiency, such as the MicroBT Whatsminer M61S+ 240 TH/s, went into negative territory.

The June-July dynamics clearly demonstrate how quickly operating conditions in the network can change. Mining efficiency makes sense to evaluate not by a single difficulty adjustment or short-term exchange rate movement, but over a longer time horizon. My conclusion: the market is entering a phase where only those who have bet on the most modern and energy-efficient ASIC solutions, as well as diversified risks associated with regional energy restrictions, will survive.