Bitcoin difficulty slips near 2026 low as 150 EH/s idles

At block 963648 the Bitcoin network’s mining difficulty dropped 1.31% to 125.81 trillion. The adjustment, the 17th of 2026, leaves difficulty 0.7% above the year’s low and indicates roughly 150 exahashes per second (EH/s) of mining capacity are offline.

From the first adjustment of 2026 through the latest, the protocol recorded ten downward difficulty adjustments and seven increases. Difficulty entered the year near 148.25 trillion before the Jan. 8 adjustment and is about 15.1% lower than that level.

Difficulty reached a 2026 low of 124.93 trillion on June 13. After that low the reading rose to 133.87 trillion, fell to 127.17 trillion, slipped to 126.23 trillion, climbed to 127.48 trillion and then retreated to 125.81 trillion. The current reading is marginally higher than the June low.

Hashrate has declined from its all-time high; the difficulty figures suggest about 150 EH/s of effective mining power has gone offline. Lower difficulty reduces the computational work required to find blocks. Combined with recent price movement, mining revenue per unit of hashpower, or hashprice, has increased.

Bitcoin’s price fell more than 50% below its October 2025 record above $126,000 but the gap to that peak has narrowed to about 38.8%. Higher hashprice and slightly easier difficulty have improved revenue conditions for running miners.

The next scheduled difficulty adjustment will show whether sidelined hashpower returns to the network or if the downward trend continues.

Protocol rules adjust difficulty roughly every 2016 blocks to target an average block time near 10 minutes. When miners add hashpower difficulty rises; when miners shut off machines difficulty falls. Difficulty is one metric used to assess network security, miner behavior and the economics of mining operations.