Bitcoin’s network hashrate has been sliding for nearly 287 days. In any other era of crypto, that would be a five-alarm fire. Instead, the stocks of publicly traded mining companies are posting gains that would make a tech investor jealous.
The great power pivot
Bitcoin’s hashrate peaked around 1,157 to 1,160 EH/s in October 2025. Since then, it has dropped roughly 15%, marking a sustained decline that the network hasn’t experienced in years.
Q1 2026 was particularly notable. It registered the first quarterly hashrate decline in six years, with an approximate 4% decrease.
Mining difficulty responded accordingly. June 2026 saw a 10.09% difficulty drop. July followed with another decrease of around 5%.
