Bitcoin’s network hashrate has dropped below 1,000 exahash per second (EH/s), or 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s), for the first time since mid-September. According to data from Hashrate Index, the total computational power used by miners to validate transactions and secure the Bitcoin network sits at 993 EH/s on a seven-day moving average since Saturday, down nearly 15% from its October 2025 peak of 1.162 ZH/s.
Analysts attribute this decline to Bitcoin miners reallocating power to AI and high-performance computing (HPC) operations, which are offering more stable and higher-margin revenue. The shift is largely driven by AI data centers outbidding miners for access to low-cost, reliable electricity, especially as utilities prioritize steady, 24/7 AI workloads over the more flexible Bitcoin mining.
Miners Pivot to AI/HPC, Bitcoin Hashrate Falls to Sep 2025 Lows
The drop below the 1 ZH/s threshold came despite bitcoin’s mining difficulty falling four times since November 12, 2025, from 156 trillion to 146.5 trillion. This made it easier to mine BTC by reducing the amount of computational work required to discover a block. The Bitcoin network marked its first recalibration of the new year on January 8, a 1.2% downward adjustment to 146.47 trillion from an all-time-high of 155.97 trillion on October 19.
JPMorgan analysts estimated that the monthly average network hashrate rose 5% in October to 1,082 EH/s – a record monthly average. November saw an estimated 1,074 EH/s, a modest month-over-month pullback. However, daily estimates since late December have been volatile, with the hashrate swinging above and below the 1,000 EH/s threshold. This was consistent with miners cycling uptime instead of expanding smoothly.
Meanwhile, bitcoin’s hashprice, which measures revenue per petahash (PH/s) of computational power, has rebounded 19.3% from the late-November low of $34.55 to $40 per PH/s per day over the past month. While this signals improving miner profitability, it remains 32% lower year-over-year as miners are busy navigating post-halving bitcoin economics.
The Bitcoin network experienced a cumulative mining difficulty reduction of 9.5 trillion since October 2025, providing a much-needed relief for miners who have been facing compressed margins since the quadrennial block reward halving in April 2024, from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Transaction fees contributed just 0.72% of total block rewards over the past 24 hours, offering minimal revenue supplementation as the blockchain maintains its security primarily through newly issued bitcoins.
Currently, a block is created on the Bitcoin network every 10 minutes and 34 seconds against the protocol’s 10-minute target. This positions the next difficulty scheduled for January 22 toward an estimated 5.45% reduction based on current block discovery rates.
Bitcoin Miners Secure Deals to Supply Power for AI and HPC Computing
The hashrate retreat coincides with broader mining sector challenges as AI data centers increasingly compete for the same electrical infrastructure that Bitcoin miners have historically relied upon for cost-competitive access to energy. This has further tightened margins across the crypto mining sector.
Prominent Bitcoin miner, TeraWulf, recently signed a two-decade-long hosting agreement with AI cloud computing platform FluidStack, which is backed in part by Google. The deal will see TeraWulf provide roughly 200 megawatts (MWs) of electricity, aiming for a headline revenue of around $1.85 million per MW annually.
CleanSpark has acquired 271 acres in Texas to establish a next-generation AI campus, while MARA Holdings is acquiring a 64% majority stake in Exaion, a subsidiary of the French electricity giant EDF that specializes in high-performance, sovereign, and open-source digital services, including blockchain, 3D cloud computing, HPC, cybersecurity, and IT hosting, to accelerate its own AI ambitions.
Other large-scale miners like Core Scientific, Bitdeer, and Iris Energy have also followed suit, expanding their AI or HPC operations with new contracts and infrastructure dedicated to GPU workloads.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $93,071 – down 2.11% in 24 hours.
