Bitcoin’s mining difficulty is expected to decrease by about 9% within the next five days, marking the largest drop since July 2021. This follows a roughly 30% decline in the network’s mining power over two weeks.
Data from Mempool.space indicates this forthcoming adjustment, which comes after a significant reduction in hashrate—the total computational power used to secure the blockchain. Currently, the hashrate stands just below 700 exahashes per second (EH/s), according to Glassnode. Bitcoin’s price recently hovered around $105,300.
Mining difficulty is recalibrated every 2,016 blocks to maintain an average block time of approximately 10 minutes. The last major drop in difficulty occurred during the 2021 China mining ban, when hashrate fell 50% to 58 EH/s, at a time when bitcoin traded near $30,000.
Seasonal declines in hashrate and difficulty are common during summer months in the northern hemisphere. Higher electricity costs due to increased air conditioning demand and strained power grids often cause miners, especially those with older equipment, to temporarily halt operations.
The reduction in difficulty is expected to ease pressure on miners. The current hashprice, which measures miner revenue per EH/s daily, stands at $51.90. As difficulty lowers, mining becomes less resource-intensive, potentially increasing miner income if bitcoin’s price and transaction fees remain stable or rise.