Bitcoin difficulty fell 11% as hashrate plunged and fees eased
Bitcoin’s mining difficulty fell about 11.16% in the latest retarget, a move that reduced the threshold for block discovery and signaled acute miner stress. As reported by The Block, the adjustment occurred at block height 935,424, bringing difficulty down from roughly 141.67T to about 125.86T, the largest single negative change since China’s 2021 mining ban and among the biggest declines on record.
According to CryptoDailyCheck, network hashrate slid by roughly 20% over the past month, from around 1,080 EH/s in mid-January to approximately 863 EH/s on February 9, while miner revenue per unit hash (hashprice) touched record lows near $33.31 per PH/s per day. Their figures also indicate that the share of miner income coming from transaction fees has compressed from about 7% to near 1%, heightening sensitivity to BTC’s spot price.
Based on data from Luxor Hashrate Index, the profitability window has narrowed to the newest, most efficient ASICs, with a double‑digit, week‑over‑week hashrate decline compounding the difficulty reset. This configuration reflects a period in which power costs, weather‑driven curtailments, and fee softness are dictating which fleets can remain online.
Immediate impact on miner profitability and the next adjustment
Lower difficulty can lift revenue per unit of compute, but record‑low hashprice and softer fee income are still pressuring margins. Antpool has indicated that older‑generation hardware, including Whatsminer M6 and Antminer S21 models, is nearing unprofitability or in some cases running at a deficit at current economics.
According to Blockchain Council, the next difficulty adjustment window is expected around February 20, 2026. If curtailed capacity returns and weather constraints abate, a 5–6% rebound in difficulty is plausible; however, with hashprice at all‑time lows, any relief could be limited if spot prices remain subdued and fees do not recover.
At the time of this writing, Bitcoin trades around $66,964, with very high short‑term volatility (near 12.19%), nine green sessions in the last 30, and a 14‑day RSI near 31, described as neutral in the referenced metrics. These figures provide context for miner cash‑flow sensitivity but do not, on their own, determine the direction of the next retarget.
Some institutional research characterizes the current mix of falling hashrate, lower fees, and a sharp negative retarget as late‑stage miner stress that can precede stabilization. VanEck’s digital assets research team said, “In past cycles when hashrate shrank significantly, about 65% of the time Bitcoin posted positive returns over the following 90 days, which may function as a bottoming signal if miners stabilize.”
Scope: 11.16% drop, hashrate plunge, record-low hashprice
The scope of this episode is defined by a historically large 11.16% difficulty reduction, a roughly 20% hashrate retracement over a month, and hashprice at record lows near $33.31 per PH/s per day. Together, these conditions underscore Bitcoin’s self‑adjusting design while highlighting that miner outcomes over the next adjustment will hinge on hashrate restoration, transaction‑fee momentum, and prevailing spot prices.
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