Bitcoin Hashrate Decline

The hashrate of Bitcoin has been declining for a few weeks. Taking as a reference the seven-day moving average calculated by Hashrate Index, after reaching the new all-time high at 850 Eh/s on February 8th, it dropped to 812 Eh/s shortly after.

A couple of days ago it returned to 841 Eh/s, but today it is back to 816.

Summary

• The records of Bitcoin’s hashrate
• The difficult market conditions
• The cost of mining
• Energy consumption

The Records of Bitcoin’s Hashrate

The global Bitcoin hashrate estimates the computing power allotted to Bitcoin mining worldwide, measured in ExaHash per second (Eh/s). Hashes validate blocks, with miners extracting strings of text to validate the blocks. With the current level of difficulty, extracting billions of hashes every second is essential to identify the string confirming a new block approximately every 10 minutes.

A year ago, Bitcoin’s global hashrate was just over 550 Eh/s. By early October 2024, it rose to 625, then surpassing 700 Eh/s in November and 800 Eh/s in December. The all-time high was reached in February 2025, while current levels are similar to those of early January. Thus, there is no immediate cause for concern.

The Difficult Market Conditions

Although the current hashrate scenario is not alarming for Bitcoin, miners are facing challenges, particularly smaller ones or those incurring higher electricity costs. Bitcoin Mining Profitability from BitInfoCharts indicates low profitability levels. A year ago, profitability was $0.078 per THash/s, falling below $0.05 by May 2024. Although it nearly returned to $0.07 in the end of 2024’s bull run, the trend reversed in December. Despite dropping below $0.06, values remain above $0.055, significantly higher than the October lows, where values fell below $0.04.

The Cost of Mining

Electricity is the principal cost miners face due to Bitcoin mining’s high energy consumption, as the competition is won by those with the most hashrate. Therefore, miners aim to maximize their hashrate, and higher hashrate translates to higher electricity use. A miner’s electricity consumption varies based on difficulty and machine efficiency. Difficulty correlates directly with electricity use, while efficiency inversely relates. Difficulty adjusts every two weeks, while machine efficiency improves over longer periods.

Currently, the difficulty peaked on February 9th, but is expected to decrease in the next update over the weekend. It rose from 81.7 T a year ago to 114 T today, making it challenging for some miners to cover costs, leading to the shutdown of less efficient machines.

Energy Consumption

Electricity costs vary significantly. Those with access to low-cost electricity can operate less efficient machines, while those paying more must shut down less efficient models, using only the latest, efficient ones. The Bitcoin protocol does not dictate energy consumption; it stems from miners’ independent choices. Despite high hashrate levels, it results in high energy consumption, with less efficient machines likely to be turned off due to current challenges.