US EditionBitcoin Miners Are Losing $19,000 on Every BTC Produced as Difficulty Drops 7.8%
Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped 7.7% due to lower hash rate and miners shifting capacity to AI workloads, with spot BTC price below production costs, reducing profitability.
- On March 21, 2026, the Bitcoin network recorded a roughly 7.7% fall in difficulty to 133.79 trillion at block 941,472, marking the steepest drop since February and about 10% below the year's start level.
- Average block times stretched to roughly 12 minutes and 36 seconds, triggering the protocol's automatic downward recalibration after Winter Storm Fern knocked 200 EH/s offline, followed by a rebound on Feb. 20.
- Luxor's Hashrate Index found hashprice around $33.30 per PH/s/day, near breakeven, with hashprice hitting about $28 on Feb. 23 and production costs above spot at roughly $87,000 and $77,000, JPMorgan analysts said.
- Earlier this month Core Scientific said it expects to sell the majority of its bitcoin treasury to fund AI expansion, while Bitdeer held zero BTC as of March 21, with transaction fees about 1% of miner revenue and aggregate miner balances roughly 684,000 BTC.
- A VanEck report published Thursday found miner selling pressure steady while long-term holder selling slowed, Matthew Sigel said miners are 'sitting on a gold mine', and bitcoin traded near $70,370 on Saturday.
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Bitcoin mining difficulty tumbles nearly 8% as AI demand pulls miners away
Data from CloverPool and CoinWarz shows Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 7.76% to 133.79 trillion in Saturday’s adjustment at block height 941,472. Aside from the 11.16% plunge on February 7, this 7.76% decrease is the most the network has dialed back since the 2021 China crackdown. The metric is also currently about 10% below its January benchmark. The dip, however, suggests that computational resources are being directed to AI processing. The ne…
Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops Sharply as Miners Face Escal
Bitcoin mining difficulty recorded its sharpest drop since 2026, intensifying margin pressure on miners. Rising costs push inefficient miners out, while large firms invest in AI for stable returns. Continue Reading:Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Drops Sharply as Miners Face Escalating Pressure The post B...
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