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]

Antpool data shows that at current Bitcoin mining difficulty and an electricity cost of $0.08 per kWh, several miners including Antminer S19 XP+ Hydro, WhatsMiner M60S, and Avalon A1466I are near shutdown price levels, while the Antminer S21 series has shutdown prices around $69,000–$74,000 per BTC, and high-hashrate models such as U3S23H and S23 Hydro remain profitable above $44,000 per BTC. https://t.co/DhWFHx7NvN ...

Group 1: Strategic Partnership Overview - DL Holdings Group Limited and Antalpha have formed a strategic partnership involving investments of up to $200 million in the digital asset market [1] - The partnership focuses on two main areas: the tokenization of gold assets and the expansion of Bitcoin mining infrastructure [1] Group 2: Gold Tokenization Initiative - DL Holdings plans to invest up to $100 million in Tether Gold (XAU₮), a tokenized gold asset, over the next twelve months, following an initial investment of $5 million [2] - The global market for tokenized gold exceeds $3 billion, representing the largest segment within the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization space, which is around $25 billion [3] - Institutional adoption of RWA remains limited, with most activity driven by crypto-native firms [4] Group 3: Bitcoin Mining Expansion - DL Holdings is committing $100 million to expand its Bitcoin mining operations, acquiring approximately 3,000 Antminer S21 units from Bitmain [5] - The new machines are projected to generate around 350 BTC per year, with a medium-term target of approximately 1,500 BTC in annual output [6] - Antalpha will provide financing, technical advice, and risk management support for the mining operations, leveraging its exclusive partnership with Bitmain [7]