Bitcoin Hashrate Falls 10% as Miners Capitulate, Mining Difficulty Drops to 125.86T
Bitcoin’s global hashrate fell about 10% after a miner capitulation, driving mining difficulty down to 125.86 T (from a local high of 155.97 T on Nov. 11). Remaining miners are now finding blocks faster (average block time ~8.92 minutes), setting up an automatic difficulty adjustment that could raise difficulty by ~12.15% within two weeks. Bloomberg data shows mining revenue metrics hit record lows: the hash price dropped to roughly $0.03 per THash, squeezed by lower BTC prices and higher energy costs. Major public miners (CleanSpark, Terawulf, MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms) have seen share-price declines as firms power down equipment. Severe U.S. winter storms and regional outages in Texas and Tennessee have worsened production constraints and raised power costs. Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd noted that “hash power follows price,” linking the drop to the market downturn. For traders, the key datapoints are the 10% hashrate decline, difficulty at 125.86 T, record-low hash price (~$0.03/TH), and faster block times that will trigger difficulty rebound — factors that can influence short-term block supply, miner selling pressure, and sentiment.
Bearish
The news is bearish for crypto markets overall. A ~10% drop in hashrate and record-low hash price (~$0.03/TH) indicate miners are under pressure from low BTC prices and high energy costs, forcing equipment shutdowns and potential liquidation of holdings to cover costs. Short-term effects: reduced miner activity can lower immediate sell-side pressure if miners are offlining (less daily BTC sold), but the dominant reaction is negative sentiment — weaker miner economics and falling miner stock prices weigh on market confidence. Faster block times and the subsequent expected ~12% difficulty increase in two weeks introduce short-term volatility: difficulty rebound will raise miner costs and could renew selling pressure. Historically (e.g., past miner capitulations and 2018-2019 downturns), sustained low hash price correlates with prolonged negative sentiment and price weakness until either BTC price recovers or energy/cost dynamics improve. Longer-term impact depends on price recovery and miners’ resilience: if BTC rallies, hashrate typically returns, normalizing difficulty and miner margins. For traders: expect increased volatility, potential short-term downpressure on BTC price, and watch hash price/difficulty and miner balance-sheet signals for trade triggers.