This Marks the First Decline After Four Consecutive Increases Since Early March
After four straight difficulty hikes beginning March 9, 2025, the Bitcoin network finally eased up—registering a 3.34% downward adjustment that offered miners a welcome moment of relief. Despite this reduction, average block intervals remain above target, and the network hashrate continues to grow, indicating sustained interest in mining even in highly competitive conditions.
First Difficulty Drop After Two Months of Increases
At block height 895,104, Bitcoin’s difficulty declined for the first time since the March 9, 2025, increase, breaking a streak of four consecutive upward adjustments over the past eight weeks. The metric slipped by 3.34%, falling from 123.23 trillion to 119.12 trillion. The 119.12 trillion figure denotes the current Bitcoin network mining difficulty—a dynamic benchmark that defines how computationally demanding it is to unearth the next valid block.
In practical terms, this number estimates the volume of hash attempts a miner must, on average, execute to produce a block hash that meets the protocol’s target. Put differently, it signals the need for an immense 119.12 trillion possible guesses to mine a block, keeping the network anchored to its cadence of roughly one block every 10 minutes, irrespective of total hashpower.
“This is a natural correction that needed to happen,” comments Anna Mikhailova, cryptocurrency market analyst. “After four consecutive increases and with rising electricity costs, many miners faced shrinking profitability. The difficulty reduction allows the mining economy to balance out somewhat.”
According to data from mempool.space, this difficulty decrease is the first since January 2025, when a 1.73% reduction was observed. Since then, we’ve seen only an upward trend, which led to significantly more challenging mining conditions by the end of April.
High Network Activity Despite Difficulty Reduction
As of Sunday, May 4, the network is running hot with 885.51 exahash per second (EH/s) of hashpower humming across the globe. Yet even with a difficulty reduction at block height 895,104, block times remain stubbornly above target—averaging 10 minutes and 22 seconds. If this pace holds, another downward difficulty adjustment is projected for May 18.
Still, the hashrate could shift at any moment, compressing block intervals and altering expectations. Peter Zhang, CTO of mining company HashForge, notes: “We observe constant fluctuations in hashrate distribution. Some operators turn off less efficient equipment during periods of high difficulty, then turn it back on when conditions become more favorable. This creates an interesting dynamic that’s difficult to predict in the short term.”
Interestingly, despite periods of high difficulty, the overall network hashrate continues to grow. From 824 EH/s on April 27, it has increased to the current 885.51 EH/s, indicating miners’ long-term confidence in the profitability of operations.
Improving Mining Economics After the Adjustment
Meanwhile, miner profitability has climbed: hashprice, or the estimated daily revenue per petahash per second (PH/s) of SHA256 computation, jumped from $45.87 on Apr. 4 to $50.80 today. That uptick in revenue has helped lift the hashpower from 824 EH/s on April 27 to the current 885.51 EH/s.
The increase in hashprice can be attributed to a combination of factors: the reduction in difficulty, increased transaction fees, and the relative stability of Bitcoin’s price in recent weeks. After the recent price correction that affected the entire cryptocurrency market in late April, Bitcoin has managed to recover positions above the $95,000 mark, which has positively impacted mining economics.
“Miners are now in an interesting position,” explains Sergei Volkov, founder of consulting firm CryptoMiners Advisory. “On one hand, we’re seeing a difficulty decrease, which theoretically should increase their profitability. On the other hand, the growing hashrate indicates that competition remains high. In practice, many miners are using this small respite to upgrade equipment and optimize operations.”
According to industry analyst reports, mining companies are actively investing in the latest ASIC miners from the Antminer S21 and MicroBT M50 series, which provide significantly better energy efficiency compared to previous models. This allows them to maintain profitability even at high difficulty levels and increasing competition.
Experts also note that amid trade tensions between the US and China, many mining operations are diversifying their geographic presence, moving some capacity to countries with more favorable regulatory climates and accessible energy sources. This strategic redistribution helps the industry adapt to changing geopolitical realities and maintain resilience in the long term.
Given current trends and the approaching Bitcoin halving expected in the first quarter of 2026, mining economics will remain in the spotlight for investors and analysts, as this sector continues to play a key role in securing and operating the largest cryptocurrency network.