Bitcoin Miners Regain Momentum as Network Hashrate Rises and Difficulty Climbs Sharply, Pressuring Older Hardware

26 October 2026

Bitcoin's network hashrate has rebounded above the key psychological threshold of 100 exahashes per second (EH/s), even as the ASIC hardware powering the ledger for most miners faces significant turnover and rising costs.

On Oct. 16, Bitcoin's mining difficulty increased 4.59% to a record 48.35 trillion, one of the steepest adjustments in months according to Blockchain.com. This upward adjustment comes just weeks after the network's seven-day average hashrate recovered to 115 EH/s - the highest level since early June, as mining pool Braiins noted.

Despite Bitcoin routinely breaking records, many analysts view the current hashrate gains as potentially temporary. Today's 115 EH/s figure still trails the 125 EH/s peak from June, and the difficulty surge suggests intensifying competition to mine new blocks. Three key factors are driving this recovery:

How the Network Has Changed

Bitcoin's mining network has grown more competitive. The 7-day average hashrate reached 115 EH/s at press time, with the most recent adjustment occurring 8 days earlier at block height 751,488. This followed a period of relative stability, and projections indicate another 4.25% difficulty increase at the next adjustment, according to Blockchain.com.

New Computing Power Comes Online

As miners reactivate older equipment and deploy new hardware models, Bitcoin's processing capacity is expanding again. The S19 XP, a prominent 2023 ASIC model, is expected to contribute significantly to near-term hashrate growth. Braiins estimates total net ASIC capacity reached 420 EH by October 2023, up from 390 EH in August.

Not All Hardware Is Created Equal

Older ASICs with power efficiency ratios above 34 J/TH face obsolescence, as they can't compete with newer models entering the network. As this equipment is retired, average fleet efficiency should improve from 29 J/TH to 28 J/TH in the coming months. This hardware transition and rising network hashrate are depressing prices for older machines, which have fallen 25% in 2023 according to Braiins.

Additional operational challenges have emerged from electricity costs and weather disruptions. Extreme cold spells in U.S. power markets affected hashrate availability recently, with a December 2023 cold snap reducing network output by 6.12%. While hashrate returned when temperatures normalized, these fluctuations left some miners at a disadvantage.

Why does this hashrate volatility matter when Bitcoin first exceeded 1 EH/s annually back in 2016 and now maintains well over 100 EH/s? Several reasons make monitoring the trend important:

First, maintaining hashrate above 100 EH/s marks a milestone for Bitcoin's mining network. Historically, the network either climbed to new highs or reflected decreasing miner profitability and equipment going offline. Tracking this helps gauge Bitcoin's rate of technological adoption as miners recoup investments through increasing hashrate.

Second, steady difficulty increases while marginal miners become unprofitable should support pricing. Bitcoin's difficulty fundamentally relates to security - and consequently its price. This creates a virtuous cycle for efficient miners, shifting profitability toward newer machines. Monitoring hashrate provides insight into the short-term supply of network participants.

Third, rising hashrate and competition signals the broader implications of increasing computational power securing the network. Through Bitcoin's price, this hashrate reflects the potential upside and expected returns on network security investments. The bottom line: Bitcoin's blockchain thrives on hashrate and miner competition. As 100 EH/s becomes the new baseline, hashrate metrics warrant close attention alongside macroeconomic factors and market narratives.