Bitcoin’s mining difficulty barely moved in its latest automated adjustment, dropping 0.03% at block height 969696 to 132.72 trillion, according to News.bitcoin. It is the smallest difficulty move recorded this year. The article was published on October 3, 2026, by Jamie Redman.
Key facts
- Difficulty slipped 0.03% at block 969696, leaving the network at 132.72 trillion.
- September delivered miners $1.12 billion, the best month since January’s $1.15 billion.
- Hashprice ranged between a 30-day high of $41.51 and a low of $37.45 per PH/s, hovering near $40 for most of the month.
- 2026 has logged 19 adjustments so far: eight increases totaling +33.34% and 11 decreases totaling -45.30%, a net decline of -11.96%.
- Block intervals are currently running at ten minutes and 48 seconds, with the next adjustment expected on October 18, 2026.
A tiny adjustment against a year of large swings
Bitcoin difficulty is a protocol-level setting that automatically adjusts roughly every two weeks, making block discovery harder or easier so that new blocks arrive about every ten minutes. The latest change is tiny in practice. At 0.03%, it is too small to change the economics of running mining hardware in any meaningful way, and it stands in contrast to the wider pattern of 2026.
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Across the year, the network has seen 19 adjustments. Increases have added a combined 33.34%, while decreases have removed 45.30%, leaving difficulty down 11.96% on a net basis since January. That net decline means blocks have been easier to find than they were at the start of the year — a change that benefits operators by effectively lowering the competition for each unit of hashpower. Slower current block intervals of ten minutes and 48 seconds, slightly above the ten-minute target, suggest the network’s hashrate has remained below 1,000 exahash per second (EH/s).
September revenue and hashprice
September’s $1.12 billion in miner revenue was the strongest month since January, when miners brought in $1.15 billion. It also ranks among the better months of 2026, sitting just above May’s $1.08 billion, based on newhedge.io metrics cited by News.bitcoin. The revenue figure reflects both the easier difficulty environment and the effect of Bitcoin’s price rally in August and September.
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Hashprice — the daily value produced by one petahash per second of computing power — held above $40 per petahash for much of the month. The 30-day range ran from a high of $41.51 down to a low of $37.45 per PH/s. For miners, that band represents steady, workable margins rather than a sharp spike or a collapse. News.bitcoin described the current conditions as a rare respite for operators that may prove more durable than precarious.
Why it matters
Mining economics hinge on the relationship between three things: difficulty, hashprice and the price of bitcoin itself. When difficulty falls on a net basis while hashprice holds near $40, operators get a period where the same hardware earns more per unit of power consumed. This matters most for smaller miners and those carrying debt or high energy costs, who were squeezed hardest when difficulty was climbing.
The September revenue figure shows that benefit showing up on the income side rather than just on paper. Whether it holds depends on whether bitcoin’s recent price strength persists and whether difficulty keeps drifting lower, since a sustained price rise tends to pull more hashrate back online.
What to watch
The next difficulty adjustment is expected on October 18, 2026. Given that current block intervals are running slightly slow at ten minutes and 48 seconds, the next change could move in either direction over the two weeks ahead. Miners will also be watching whether hashprice holds above $40 per petahash through October.
Reported by news.bitcoin.com.
Source: Bitcoin.com News