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Bitcoin’s mining difficulty rose 5.92% at block height 971712 on Friday, lifting the network target from 132.72 trillion to 140.58 trillion, according to News.bitcoin. That is the highest difficulty reading since March 5 and the third-largest increase so far in 2026, a year that has now seen 21 adjustments in total, 10 of them upward.
News.bitcoin reported that the adjustment followed a recovery in miner revenue and a rebound in network computing power. Over the past 30 days the hashprice — the estimated daily revenue from one petahash per second of capacity — traded between 6% and 9% above its Sept. 16 level of $37.56, touching above $41 twice, including on Oct. 2.
Also read: Bitcoin Difficulty Dips 0.03% as September Mining Revenue Hits $1.12B
Key facts
- Difficulty increased 5.92%, from 132.72 trillion to 140.58 trillion, at block height 971712.
- The change was the third-largest difficulty increase of 2026 and the 10th rise in 21 adjustments this year.
- Bitcoin’s hashrate climbed back above 1,000 exahash per second, or 1 zettahash per second.
- Hashprice stood at $36.75 per petahash per second on Oct. 16, down from above $41 on Oct. 2.
- Early estimates for the adjustment due on or around Oct. 28 pointed to a 14.24% rise.
Hashrate returns above 1 ZH/s
Difficulty sets how much work miners must do to find the next block. When hashrate grows, blocks arrive faster than the 2,016-block epoch assumes, and the protocol raises difficulty at the next adjustment; when hashrate falls, block production slows and difficulty drops.
That mechanism explains the latest move. Higher revenue drew more machines into the competition, and total network hashrate pushed back above 1,000 EH/s, equivalent to 1 zettahash per second. At the time of writing, hashrate was running at 1024.96 EH/s with block times near 8 minutes 45 seconds. The revenue picture had already softened by Friday, with hashprice slipping to $36.75 from its recent peaks.
Also read: Russia expands crypto mining ban to Moscow, Kursk Region through 2032
Another large jump is projected for late October
The next adjustment falls on or around Oct. 28, 2026. Early estimates point to a 14.24% increase, but only a few dozen of the epoch’s 2,016 blocks had been mined when the report was published, leaving ample room for the projection to shift as the period unfolds.
For miners, the sequence matters. A rising difficulty target with a cooling hashprice squeezes margins on older or less efficient hardware, while operators with newer machines and cheap power absorb the change more easily. The recent climb continues a recovery that began over the summer, reversing some of the easier conditions miners saw earlier in the year.
Why it matters
Difficulty is a direct read on how competitive block rewards have become, and it shapes planning for every mining operator, from industrial farms to home setups. A difficulty reading at a seven-month high means the same amount of computing power now earns less than it did in recent weeks, even though revenue per unit of hashrate had been running above September levels for much of the past month. The combination of record-league hashrate and high difficulty is a signal that capital continues to flow into mining despite the day-to-day cooling in earnings.
What to watch
The Oct. 28 adjustment is the next concrete data point. Whether the epoch is mined faster or slower than expected will determine if the 14.24% estimate holds, and the hashprice will show whether miners keep expanding or begin to pull back capacity.
Reported by news.bitcoin.com.
Source: Bitcoin.com News