Bitcoin’s mining difficulty fell by 11.16% in the latest adjustment, dropping to 125.86 trillion. This marked the steepest negative adjustment since China banned mining activities in July 2021 and ranked among the ten largest difficulty drops in Bitcoin’s history.
The adjustment occurred at block height 935,424. Prior to the update, average block times had slowed to around 11.4 minutes, indicating a significant reduction in network hashpower. The protocol responded by lowering difficulty, temporarily easing conditions for remaining miners.
Network data shows that total Bitcoin hashrate declined by roughly 20% over the past month. After approaching 1.1 zetahash in October, hashpower quickly fell to the 863 exahash range. This pullback was driven mainly by a sharp drop in Bitcoin’s price and by Winter Storm Fern in the US, which forced many miners to halt operations and removed nearly 200 exahash from the network.
Mining profitability metrics also highlight the strain. Hashprice fell to an all-time low of $33.31 per petahash per day, well below the industry’s critical $40 threshold. With the average cost of producing one Bitcoin estimated near $87,000 while spot prices hover around $69,000, pressure on miners is expected to persist despite the temporary relief from lower difficulty.
