Bitcoin difficulty down 2.43%, hashprice up 13.65%

Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 2.43% to 135.59 trillion on April 17, 2026, reducing the computational target at block 945504. The adjustment lowered difficulty from 138.96 trillion to 135.59 trillion. Difficulty at this level was last recorded in September 2025 at block 913248.

So far in 2026 the network has recorded eight difficulty adjustments: five decreases and three increases. The latest change follows a 3.87% increase in the prior epoch and is the fifth downward revision this year.

Hashprice, the estimated daily revenue per 1 petahash per second (PH/s), rose 13.65% between March 18 and April 18, 2026. The rise reflects higher bitcoin prices relative to network computing power and the balance of block rewards and fees. Higher hashprice increases near-term revenue for miners given the current difficulty level.

Network hashrate remains above 1 zettahash per second (1,000 exahash per second). The average block interval has shortened to about 9 minutes 35 seconds. Bitcoin’s difficulty retarget algorithm increases difficulty when blocks are found faster than the 10-minute target, and the next adjustment is currently expected around April 30, 2026.

Transaction fees remain low. Average fees are around 1 satoshi per virtual byte, and fees accounted for about 0.45% of total block revenue over the past day. Most miner revenue continues to come from the fixed block subsidy and the market value of newly minted bitcoin.

On-chain activity cooled in 2025 and has shown early signs of pickup in 2026. Mining conditions in 2026 have combined lower difficulty, elevated hashrate and rising hashprice, producing short-term changes in miner revenue and network dynamics.