Bitcoin mining difficulty hits 148 trillion as revenues fall to three-month lows

Bitcoin's mining difficulty jumped 5.54% on Oct. 29 as recovering network computing power intensified competition among miners already facing shrinking revenues.

Data from Nodewitness shows the adjustment increased difficulty from 140.58 trillion to 148.36 trillion, following another 5.92% increase on Oct. 16.

The increase comes as Bitcoin miners rebuild the network's computing power despite an industrywide shift toward artificial intelligence infrastructure. However, the recovery is adding financial pressure, with mining revenue falling toward $33 per petahash per second daily, its lowest level since August.

According to Real Vision chief crypto analyst Jamie Coutts, Bitcoin's mining network has staged a substantial recovery following one of its steepest contractions in years.

Coutts noted that the network's 14-day average hashrate declined 23% between its October 2025 peak and February 2026, marking the steepest decline since China's mining ban in 2021.

The contraction reflected several factors, including severe winter weather that temporarily disrupted operations and growing concerns that mining companies were abandoning Bitcoin production for more lucrative AI infrastructure opportunities.

Although the network initially recovered, its computing power weakened again through July, reinforcing concerns about the industry's long-term commitment to Bitcoin mining.

However, Coutts said that trend has reversed significantly since July 17.

According to his analysis, Bitcoin's hashrate has climbed 21% over the subsequent 102 days, adding approximately 185 exahashes per second (EH/s) and recovering to within 6% of its previous record.

He described the increase as the largest absolute amount of computing power added during a comparable hashrate recovery since 2018, although the percentage gain was less exceptional historically.

Data from Look Into Bitcoin also shows the network's computing power has reached its highest level in seven months, illustrating the scale of the recovery despite the industry's growing interest in AI infrastructure.

The rebound is noteworthy because several publicly traded mining companies have increasingly shifted their business models toward high-performance computing and AI data centers, where long-term infrastructure contracts can provide more predictable revenue than Bitcoin mining.

Still, Bitcoin's network-wide recovery suggests that mining capacity is expanding elsewhere, potentially offsetting equipment being redirected or retired by companies pursuing AI opportunities.

The return of computing power also helps explain the latest difficulty increases.

Bitcoin automatically adjusts mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks, roughly two weeks, to maintain an average block production time of 10 minutes. When additional computing power causes miners to find blocks faster than expected, the network raises difficulty to restore that target.