Bitcoin miners expand into energy as hashrate tops 1.02 ZH/s

Bitcoin’s network difficulty rose 1.72% to 138.96 trillion at block height 951,552 on May 29. The network’s processing power climbed above 1.02 zettahashes per second, at about 1,018.59 exahashes per second as of May 30, a 6.32% increase since it measured 958 EH/s on May 18.

The dollar value earned per petahash per day, or hashprice, fell to $33.71 per PH/s/day, down 4.99% versus 30 days earlier and roughly 13.6% below recent monthly highs near $39 per PH/s/day. Miners continued to add hardware despite weaker per-unit revenue. Average block times ran about 9 minutes and 53 seconds, slightly faster than the 10-minute target.

The next difficulty adjustment is projected for June 12. If hashrate remains elevated and blocks keep arriving ahead of schedule, the network could see another increase in difficulty. Over the past eight months difficulty has mostly ranged between roughly 126 trillion and 156 trillion; the current reading is similar to levels seen around September 2025.

Renewablox co-CEO Jason Deane wrote on X that hashrate growth has been uneven, with large operators reallocating some capacity to artificial intelligence projects and smaller or less profitable miners exiting due to tighter economics. He noted the industry is placing more focus on services tied to energy systems, including capturing excess heat, supporting grid stability and reducing wasted energy. “The bitcoin mining industry is changing and, in my view, is likely to become less centralized over time,” he wrote.

Mining difficulty is the protocol parameter that adjusts how hard it is to find a valid block and resets roughly every 2,016 blocks to keep average block intervals near 10 minutes. Hashrate measures the total computational power securing the network. Hashprice converts network rewards and fees into an earnings rate per unit of hashing power and is used by operators to assess profitability.