Bitcoin Miners Breathe Easier as Difficulty Barely Budges

Bitcoin's blockchain experienced a modest difficulty adjustment at block height 969696, with a mere 0.03% drop. This change has had a negligible impact on bitcoin miners, with the next difficulty adjustment expected on October 18, 2026. The network's difficulty now stands at 132.72 trillion, following 19 total adjustments this year, with eight increases and 11 decreases. The 0.03% reduction is the smallest move of the year, leaving the network's difficulty with a net decline of -11.96% since the start of the year. This decline has provided some breathing room for bitcoin miners, while BTC's recent rally has strengthened mining revenue.

Bitcoin's hashprice, or the value of the daily output generated by 1 petahash per second (PH/s), reached a 30-day high of $41.51 while dipping to a low of $37.45 per PH/s. For most of the month, however, hashprice has hovered around $40 per petahash. September's strong revenue, coupled with bitcoin's recent spike in August and September, suggests momentum is still gathering rather than simply flashing and fading.

Bitcoin miners recorded the best month in revenue since January, with $1.12 billion in earnings. This is just a hair below January's $1.15 billion. It was also one of the best months since May 2026, when miners accrued $1.08 billion, according to Newhedge.io metrics. The question now is whether this momentum can carry through the final months of the year.