Bitcoin's 30-day mean hash rate has fallen 19% from 1,108 EH/s to 898 EH/s since November 2025, marking the longest sustained decline in the network's history. The nine-month drawdown, driven by a margin squeeze and a massive pivot to AI hosting, has pushed mining difficulty to its first negative year-over-year reading since August 2021. Bitcoin traded near $64,078 at press time, up 0.9% over 24 hours, and roughly 49% below its October 2025 peak.
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Why miners are leaving Bitcoin behind
Public mining firms now hold over $70 billion in AI contracts, and much of that converted capacity may never return to Bitcoin mining. AI hosting reportedly pays 3 to 25 times as much per megawatt as Bitcoin mining, making the switch a no-brainer for companies with access to power and data-center infrastructure. Hut 8 reports $26.6 billion in contracted AI portfolio value; Core Scientific leases roughly 1.1 GW to CoreWeave; TeraWulf signed a 20-year lease with Anthropic worth about $19 billion. IREN and Cipher Mining added deals with Microsoft and AWS worth $9.7 billion and $5.5 billion respectively.
Public miners sold over 32,000 BTC in the first quarter of 2026 to fund their transition to AI. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong dismissed fears that the energy shift will hurt Bitcoin price, while Chamath Palihapitiya called the shift structural for miners.
Difficulty contracts, hashprice stays below breakeven
Network difficulty has contracted 19.9% from its November 2025 peak near 156 trillion to 126.23 trillion. It now sits 1.1% below its level one year ago — the first negative year-over-year reading since August 2021. Hashprice hovers near $30–32 per petahash per day, below breakeven for older fleets; an estimated 15–20% of machines run at a loss.
Previous hash rate drawdowns were shorter and driven by one-off events: the May–July 2021 China mining ban caused a 42% drop over about 10 weeks; the April–July 2024 post-halving purge shrank hash rate 8% over roughly three months. The current decline, now in its ninth month, is different — it's a slow bleed driven by economics, not regulation.
Poolin bankruptcy adds to the pressure
Mining pool Poolin filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late July 2026, underscoring the strain on the sector. The pool, once one of the largest, joins a growing list of mining-related entities that have struggled as revenue per hash continues to fall.
The question now is how much more capacity will leave the network. With AI contracts locking up power for years and hashprice unlikely to recover quickly, the hash rate could keep sliding. The next difficulty adjustment, due in about two weeks, will show whether the network is still shedding hashing power — or if the bottom is finally in.
