Bitcoin Difficulty Climbs 3.87% as Hashrate Slips and Next Cut Looms

After the previous difficulty epoch delivered a 7.76% reduction, Bitcoin’s difficulty moved higher by 3.87% at block height 943488. This latest adjustment represents the third increase recorded so far this year.

Key Takeaways:

• Bitcoin difficulty rose 3.87% at block 943488 as hashrate fell 60.45 EH/s; a 15.73% cut is projected.
• Miners face $30.67 PH/s hashprice and 0.56% fees, pushing firms toward AI over $BTC mining.
• Bitcoin network nears April 19, 2026, adjustment as slower 11:51 blocks signal easing difficulty ahead.

Bitcoin Mining Tightens

The Bitcoin network has logged a total of seven adjustments this year, comprising three increases and four decreases. The most recent reduction, two weeks ago, was sizable, arriving after consecutive gains of 14.73% and 0.45% across the prior two epochs.

Following the latest adjustment, the difficulty rating is now 3.87% higher, making blocks that much harder to discover, and it further stands at 138.97 trillion times more difficult than Bitcoin’s launch.

As of 4 p.m. Eastern time, 181 of the 2,016 blocks in the current epoch have been mined, placing the network roughly 9% of the way toward the next adjustment expected on April 19, 2026. While it remains early and conditions can shift considerably between now and then, current estimates point to a projected 14.27% reduction.

This outlook stems from a noticeable slowdown in block intervals over the past day, with data from hashrateindex.com indicating an average block time of 11 minutes 39 seconds, well above the expected 10-minute cadence.

What’s behind the shift? A decline in hashrate. Bitcoin.com News reported on March 28 that the Bitcoin network’s total computational power had exceeded 1,000 exahash per second (EH/s), or 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s). On that day, hashpower reached 1,022 EH/s, whereas it now sits 60.45 EH/s lower at 961.55 EH/s.

Revenue Compression Tightens the Squeeze

Compressed revenues are likely a key factor behind the downturn, alongside mining operations opting to allocate resources toward artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure rather than mining $BTC in pursuit of stronger returns. An infrastructure provider deploying its megawatts toward AI rather than mining bitcoin can realize significantly higher returns, a dynamic that has persuaded many of today’s operators to redirect their focus.

A daily hashprice of $30.67 per petahash per second (PH/s) ranks among the lowest revenue levels bitcoin miners have faced since the network’s early years, when bitcoin carried a far smaller valuation. With 106,335 blocks remaining until the next halving, conditions are poised to tighten further.

Adding pressure, miners cannot rely on fees, which account for just 0.56% of the block reward. In effect, the system appears to be approaching a breaking point. Yet Bitcoin’s difficulty adjustment is engineered for precisely this scenario. If miners exit and hashrate declines, difficulty adjusts downward, drawing participants back with more accessible conditions.