Bitcoin mining difficulty dips in first 2026 adjustment

The Bitcoin network mining sector recently celebrated the first difficulty adjustment of 2026. This adjustment was observed after this sector announced a slight ease of mining difficulty to a record of 146.4 trillion on Thursday, January 8. Notably, mining difficulty illustrated the extent of hardship miners needed to expect when introducing a new block to the decentralized blockchain.

During this incident, CoinWarz, a long-standing crypto platform (since 2013) offering essential tools for miners, shared its prediction, urging miners to expect the next adjustment to take place on January 22, 2026, at 04:08:12 AM UTC. However, different from the recent adjustment, this forecasted one is anticipated to raise Bitcoin mining difficulty from a record of 146.47 trillion to 148.20 trillion. 

In attempts to explain this increase, analysts conducted research and discovered that the average block times were recorded at 9.88 minutes, slightly below the set target of 10 minutes. With this finding, they asserted that the next adjustment could lead to a surge in difficulty, aligning more closely with the target time.

Miners publicly note down the Bitcoin mining difficulty in the sector

Reports in 2025 highlighted that the Bitcoin mining difficulty skyrocketed to new all-time highs, with a slight increase experienced in the last adjustment of that year. Interestingly, even after this increase was recognized, sources claimed that the difficulty record remained below November’s peak of 155.9 trillion.

To break down the meaning of surging Bitcoin mining difficulty, reports suggest that such a situation indicates miners should expect stiff competition in this sector, which is anticipated to arise when they launch new blocks to the network. As a result, the situation worsens in the industry, consequently affecting economic and regulatory status across 2025. 

At this particular moment, analysts have admitted that Bitcoin miners face significant hardship in generating profits, as margins have greatly shrunk due to the halving event that occurred in April 2024. If block rewards were reduced by half, several key economic factors would be affected. 

Later, miners and mining firms reported facing increased pressure from the crypto market decline that began in November. This stress arose when miner hash price drastically decreased below the expected level essential to break even. This price illustrated the anticipated yields for each computing power unit utilized to mine blocks effectively.

Meanwhile, it is worth noting that the miner hash price is the expected daily revenue generated per unit of computational power (hashrate), usually measured in dollars per terahash per second per day ($/TH/s/day). 

Bitcoin’s price drastically drops amid significant challenges in the Bitcoin mining industry 

Considering the increased uncertainties in the Bitcoin mining sector, miners have been encouraged to choose whether to continue with their operations or halt them when the price reaches a record of $40 per petahash-second per day. This price marks an increase from a low point of $35 recorded in November.

Another factor that has significantly contributed to the recent pressure in the mining industry is US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which have sparked concerns about the potential for a supply chain shortage in the sector. 

Notably, October’s flash crash marked the beginning of declines in the crypto market, which led to a drop in the price of BTC by over 30% in November, with a low of just above $80,000.

Nonetheless, even with this decline, the crypto industry became hopeful once more after the price of the cryptocurrency started rising, maintaining a level lower than October’s peak of more than $125,000. 

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