Bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen 19.9% from its all-time high of 156 trillion in November 2025 to 127.48 trillion as of August 8, 2026. Network hashrate declined roughly 12% from its late-2025 peak above 1 zettahash per second to approximately 928–949 EH/s by mid-August. The decline ranks as ...
"We are becoming an AI infrastructure company that also mines bitcoin." — Zach Bradford, CEO of CleanSpark, Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call
Bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen 19.9% from its all-time high of 156 trillion in November 2025 to 127.48 trillion as of August 8, 2026. Network hashrate declined roughly 12% from its late-2025 peak above 1 zettahash per second to approximately 928–949 EH/s by mid-August. The decline ranks as the third-deepest drawdown since application-specific integrated circuits became the standard mining hardware, behind only the 2021 China mining ban and a 2018 bear-market contraction.
The three largest publicly traded miners — MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark — reported combined Q2 2026 revenue declines of 19–30% year-over-year and aggregate net losses exceeding $1 billion. All three are now redirecting capital toward artificial intelligence data centers, with over $70 billion in cumulative AI and HPC contracts signed across the publicly listed mining sector. The question facing bitcoin's security model is no longer whether miners will pivot — it is how much hashrate the network can afford to lose.
The April 2024 halving reduced bitcoin's block subsidy from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. At current prices near $78,500 (as of August 27, 2026), each block produces approximately $245,000 in subsidy revenue, down from roughly $490,000 pre-halving at equivalent prices. Transaction fees contribute approximately 1.6% of total miner revenue under normal conditions, according to on-chain data, leaving the subsidy as the dominant income source.
Hashprice — the standard measure of daily revenue per unit of hashrate — fell to $31.90 per petahash per second on August 11, 2026, before recovering to $38.29 by August 22 as bitcoin's price rebounded from the low-$60,000 range. For context, hashprice exceeded $100/PH/s in early 2024 prior to the halving. The metric has compressed by more than 60% in two years.
According to CoinShares' Q1 2026 mining report published in March, the weighted average cash cost to produce one bitcoin among publicly listed miners rose to approximately $79,995 in Q4 2025. With bitcoin trading between $63,000 and $70,000 for much of the first half of 2026, CoinShares estimated 15% to 20% of the global mining fleet was operating at a loss.
Bitcoin's hashrate peaked above 1.1 ZH/s in October 2025, coinciding with bitcoin's all-time price high near $126,500. The network has since experienced what Bloomingbit data describes as a 287-day decline, the longest sustained drawdown since China's mining ban in mid-2021.
The difficulty adjustment mechanism has responded accordingly. Bitcoin logged ten difficulty decreases versus seven increases in 2026, reducing difficulty from 144.4 trillion (an all-time high set on February 19, following a 14.73% single-adjustment spike) to 127.48 trillion as of the August 8 retarget. The February spike was the largest percentage increase since 2021 and reflected a temporary hashrate surge before the subsequent extended decline.
By late July 2026, the seven-day average hashrate had declined to approximately 868 EH/s, according to data cited by CoinDesk. August readings show partial recovery to the 928–949 EH/s range, consistent with improving hashprice as bitcoin's price moved back above $78,000.
The publicly traded miners tracked by BitcoinMiningStock.io operate a combined 411.1 EH/s, representing approximately 43% of the total network. This concentration metric has increased as smaller, less efficient private operators have shut down.
MARA Holdings reported Q2 2026 revenue of $174.9 million, down 27% year-over-year, missing consensus estimates of $208.4 million by more than 16%. Net loss widened to $611.3 million, or $1.60 per diluted share. The company attributed losses in part to unrealized declines in the fair value of its bitcoin holdings under new ASC 2023-08 mark-to-market accounting rules.
Riot Platforms reported Q2 revenue of $174.2 million, up 14% year-over-year, but bitcoin mining revenue specifically fell 19% to $113.7 million. Riot mined 1,587 BTC at an average cost of $49,912 per coin, excluding depreciation. The company posted a net loss of $237.2 million. Riot sold 4,300 bitcoin during the quarter — 2.7 times the amount it mined — to fund operations and its expanding AI data center business. It ended the quarter with 11,380 BTC and $548.9 million in cash on its balance sheet.
CleanSpark reported fiscal Q3 revenue of $138.0 million, down 30.5% year-over-year. Net loss was $239.8 million, or $0.89 per basic share, versus net income of $257.4 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA fell to negative $113.0 million from positive $377.7 million. The company said normalized adjusted EBITDA — excluding a non-cash bitcoin valuation charge — was positive $20 million.
Combined, the three companies reported over $1.08 billion in net losses for the quarter.
The migration from bitcoin mining to AI infrastructure is no longer a hedge — it is a primary business strategy for the sector's largest operators. Publicly listed miners have committed to more than $70 billion in cumulative AI and high-performance computing contracts, according to data aggregated by Insights4VC.
Core Scientific has built the most advanced AI transition. Its Q2 2026 colocation revenue reached $136.7 million, up from $10.6 million one year earlier — a 12x increase. AI colocation now represents approximately 83% of the company's $164.2 million in quarterly revenue. Core Scientific holds a 12-year, $10.2 billion take-or-pay contract with CoreWeave and reports 1.1 GW of leased customer power capacity. In July 2026, AMD secured additional AI data center capacity from Core Scientific in a deal reportedly worth $14 billion. The company's total contracted pipeline now exceeds $24 billion but carries $4.3 billion in associated debt.
Hut 8 signed a 15-year lease with NVIDIA for its Beacon Point facility in Texas. The base lease is valued at $19.6 billion, with renewal options extending the total to $50.2 billion. The deal, announced in two phases (May and July 2026), covers 704 MW of IT capacity across two data halls built to NVIDIA's DSX reference architecture. First power delivery is expected in Q1 2027. Hut 8 shares rose more than 30% on the initial announcement.
CleanSpark signed a 20-year, $6.6 billion triple-net lease with a high-investment-grade technology tenant at its Sandersville, Georgia campus. The 175 MW facility is expected to begin providing capacity in late 2027. Despite the announcement, CleanSpark shares fell 7.2% on the day as investors weighed the earnings miss.
TeraWulf reported $21 million in HPC leasing revenue in Q1 2026, up more than 100% from Q4 2025, and has secured $12.8 billion in contracted AI revenue.
Industry analysts project AI-related services could constitute up to 70% of these companies' revenue by end of 2026, up from approximately 30% in early 2026.
Mining profitability is a function of four variables: bitcoin price, hashrate difficulty, hardware efficiency, and electricity cost. The post-halving environment has compressed margins on all four fronts for most operators.
The all-in cost to mine one bitcoin in 2026 ranges from $38,000 to $92,000, according to data compiled by CompareForexBrokers, depending on electricity rates, hardware generation, and operational overhead. Electricity accounts for 60–80% of total mining costs. The breakeven electricity rate has compressed to approximately $0.07–$0.08/kWh for most operations using current-generation ASICs.
Geographic arbitrage remains the primary margin lever. Paraguay, drawing from Itaipu Dam surplus at $0.033/kWh, has grown mining capacity 54% year-over-year. Ethiopia, powered by the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, hosts roughly 23 mining operations consuming approximately 600 MW. These low-cost jurisdictions are absorbing hashrate shed by North American operators facing $0.06–$0.10/kWh grid prices.
The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimated Bitcoin's network power demand at 16.09 GW and annualized consumption at 141.02 TWh as of August 1, 2026. Approximately 55–60% of the network is now powered by sustainable energy sources, including hydroelectric, solar, wind, and geothermal, according to industry surveys.
Riot Platforms' average cost of $49,912 per bitcoin mined in Q2 — excluding depreciation — illustrates the squeeze. With bitcoin trading near $63,000–$70,000 for much of Q2, Riot's mining margins were thin. The Q3 price recovery to $78,500 provides relief, but the structural cost escalation remains.
The hashrate decline raises a question about bitcoin's long-term security model. The network currently processes approximately $80.2 billion in daily trading volume (per CoinGabbar market data) and secures over $1.5 trillion in total value. The security budget — the total revenue paid to miners for validating transactions — is funded almost entirely by the block subsidy, with fees contributing just 1.6%.
As miners redirect power capacity to AI workloads that offer higher and more predictable returns, the network's hashrate becomes increasingly dependent on bitcoin's price appreciation to remain economically viable. The April 2028 halving will further reduce the subsidy to 1.5625 BTC per block. If transaction fee revenue does not scale proportionally, the security budget gap will widen.
The geographic redistribution also merits attention. As North American public miners shift capacity to AI, the network's hashrate is migrating toward low-cost jurisdictions in Africa, South America, and Central Asia. This has no bearing on bitcoin's protocol-level security — a valid hash is a valid hash regardless of geography — but it does shift the regulatory and geopolitical footprint of the mining network.
Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 19.9% from its November 2025 all-time high, marking the third-deepest ASIC-era drawdown. Network hashrate declined approximately 12% from peak levels above 1 ZH/s.
The three largest public miners — MARA, Riot, and CleanSpark — reported combined Q2 net losses exceeding $1 billion. Revenue declined 19–30% year-over-year across the group.
Publicly listed miners have signed over $70 billion in AI and HPC contracts. Core Scientific, Hut 8, CleanSpark, and TeraWulf lead the transition, with AI-related revenue projected to reach 70% of sector revenue by year-end.
The weighted average cash cost to mine one bitcoin reached approximately $80,000 in Q4 2025, per CoinShares. Miners in low-cost jurisdictions ($0.03–$0.04/kWh) remain profitable; North American operators at $0.07–$0.10/kWh face thin or negative margins.
Transaction fees account for only 1.6% of miner revenue. The 2028 halving will halve the block subsidy again, intensifying the security budget question unless fee revenue scales.
The bitcoin mining industry is undergoing its most significant structural transformation since China's 2021 ban. The difference: this time, miners are not just relocating — they are fundamentally changing what they do. The capital infrastructure built for proof-of-work computation is being repurposed for AI workloads that offer higher, steadier returns under long-term contracts.
For bitcoin's network, the short-term effect is a declining hashrate and falling difficulty. The self-correcting difficulty mechanism ensures the network continues to function — blocks still arrive roughly every 10 minutes. But the medium-term question is whether the security budget, dominated by a subsidy that halves every four years, can sustain a sufficient level of hashrate without sustained price appreciation or a meaningful increase in transaction fee revenue.
The data from Q2 2026 earnings suggests the market has answered, at least for now: AI infrastructure is a better use of the power capacity than bitcoin mining. Whether that conclusion holds depends on bitcoin's price trajectory, AI demand durability, and the network's ability to generate sufficient fee revenue as the subsidy diminishes.