Core Insights - Bitcoin's mining difficulty experienced an 11.16% drop to 125.86 trillion, marking the largest single negative adjustment since the mining ban in China in July 2021 and the 10th largest negative percentage adjustment in history [2][5] Mining Difficulty and Hashrate - The difficulty adjustment occurred at block height 935,424, with average block times increasing to approximately 11.4 minutes, exceeding the protocol's target of 10 minutes [3] - The decline in mining difficulty was driven by a 20% drop in the network's total hashrate over the past month, with Luxor's Hashrate Index reporting an 11% decrease in the past week to around 863 EH/s, down from previous highs above 1.1 ZH/s [4][5] Market Conditions - Bitcoin's price has fallen over 45% from its all-time high of above $126,000 in October, dropping to around $60,000 before rebounding to approximately $68,800, influenced by high Treasury yields, ETF outflows, and a risk-off sentiment in equities and commodities [5] - U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have turned net sellers in 2026, indicating a shift in market dynamics [5] External Factors - Winter Storm Fern in late January caused miners in the U.S. to reduce operations, resulting in a loss of approximately 200 EH/s, with Foundry USA's hashrate dropping around 60% [6] Miner Revenue Metrics - Hashprice, which measures expected miner revenue per unit of computing power, reached an all-time low of $33.31 per petahash per second per day on February 2, with a daily average low of $34.91/PH/s/day on February 1, indicating financial pressure on miners [7] - The $40/PH/s/day level is considered the threshold for miners to decide on the viability of continuing operations [7] Equipment Performance - Only the latest Antminer S23 series machines are currently yielding healthy returns, while older models like Whatsminer M6 and Antminer S21 are nearing unprofitability or already operating at a loss [8] Historical Context - The recent adjustment significantly surpasses the previous largest negative difficulty drop of approximately 7.5% in June 2025, which was also related to external factors affecting hashrate [9]

Catch the latest episode of 'THE MINING POD,’ in partnership with @blockspace!THE MINING POD: Operation Red Sunset, the White House’s Genesis Mission, Tether Buys BTDR, RAM Prices SoarWelcome back to The Mining Pod! Today, Colin and Charlie break down Operation Red Sunset—the US government's probe into Bitmain over national security concerns. We also cover brutal mining economics with hashprice at all-time lows, Trump's new executive order spurring AI and energy R&D, Hive's $300M at-the-market offering, and ...

Core Insights - The Bitcoin network hashrate experienced a modest decline of 5 EH/s, averaging 1,030 EH/s in early October, following record highs in August and September [1] - U.S.-listed miners tracked by JPMorgan now represent approximately 38% of the global Bitcoin network [1] Industry Overview - Hashrate is a measure of the total computational power for mining and processing transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain, indicating competition and mining difficulty [2] - The combined market cap of 14 Bitcoin miners and data center operators reached $79 billion, reflecting ongoing enthusiasm in the high-performance computing (HPC) sector [2] Financial Performance - Miners earned about $52,500 in daily block reward revenue per EH/s, marking a 6% increase from the end of September, while the hashprice, a profitability measure, decreased by 7% [3] - The total market cap of the 14 U.S.-listed Bitcoin miners rose by 41% from the end of the previous month to a record $79 billion, with all companies outperforming Bitcoin during this period [3] Company Performance - Bitfarms (BITF) showed significant performance with a 129% gain, while Cango (CANG) had a more modest increase of 3% [4]