Bitcoin Hashrate Regains 1 ZH/s Despite Public Miners Shifting to AI

what happened

Large public miners are freeing up capacity for AI, yet Bitcoin's network hashrate is climbing anyway. The seven-day average has returned to 1 zettahash per second, or 1,000 EH/s, its highest level since March 3. Mining difficulty rose 5.92% on October 16, and the current block pace points to another estimated 5.16% increase in about seven days, a figure that will shift as more blocks arrive.

Part of the rebound comes from expansion at specific companies. Bitdeer reported self-mining capacity of 82.3 EH/s, up from 79.9 EH/s in August, while its co-mining business grew to 28.7 EH/s from 21.6 EH/s. Smaller operators may also be buying equipment that departing large miners no longer need, according to the source.

why it matters

For miners, this means rising competitive pressure: higher difficulty shrinks each operation's share of rewards, so economics hinge on electricity costs and the BTC price. Converting a mining site to AI is a lasting change, so capacity cannot quickly return when hashprice improves. Source: theenergymag.com.

market impact

Bitcoin miners: rising difficulty and hashrate increase competition for rewards and pressure margins

tags

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