Key highlights:
- Bitcoin’s hashrate fell nearly 15% from its October peak, signaling pressure on miners’ profitability.
- Miners are reallocating computing power to AI services to maximize profits amid tight margins.
- Despite lower hashrate, mining difficulty has decreased and hashprice has risen, supporting short-term profitability.
Bitcoin’s hashrate has declined even as mining profitability has recently improved. Analysts attribute the drop to miners shifting computing resources toward artificial intelligence services, which offer higher returns.
According to the Hashrate Index, Bitcoin’s hashrate currently stands at 993 EH/s, based on a seven-day moving average, after falling below 1,000 EH/s on January 17. This represents a decrease of nearly 15% from the October 19 peak of 1,157 EH/s.
The shift reflects broader profitability pressures in the Bitcoin mining sector. Last year, TheMinerMag called 2025 “the harshest margin environment ever” for Bitcoin miners due to declining revenues and growing debt.
Many mining operators have sought alternative uses for their infrastructure, including AI and high-performance computing, leveraging existing access to electricity and cooling systems.
AI competition and mining hardware utilization
Leon Lyu, CEO and founder of StandardHash, noted on X that the decline in Bitcoin’s hashrate is partially caused by miners redistributing computing power to AI services for higher returns.
Bitcoin Hashrate Alert: A Shift in the Mining Landscape 📉
For the first time since Sept 2025, BTC’s 7-day average hashrate has fallen below 1 ZH/s. A -4.34% difficulty adjustment is expected in ~3 days.
What’s driving the exodus? 🧵
1️⃣ The AI Pivot: Major mining firms are… pic.twitter.com/hg8O8xBIkx
— Leon Lyu (@LeonLyuLv) January 19, 2026
He also highlighted that manufacturers, particularly Bitmain, may be deploying spare mining equipment through closed channels or undisclosed partnerships, meaning publicly reported hashrate may not capture all operational capacity.
Lyu noted that while manufacturers were utilizing spare rigs, the overall decline in hashrate suggested significant pressure on miners’ profitability and that AI was not just a trend but actively competing for electricity.
Mining difficulty falls and hashprice rises
The hashrate decline comes even as Bitcoin mining difficulty has dropped four times since November 12, 2025, from 156 trillion to 146.5 trillion, making mining slightly easier.
Simultaneously, Bitcoin’s hashprice (the revenue per petahash per day) has increased from $37.15 to $40, reflecting improved short-term profitability.
This paradoxical situation shows that while mining remains financially viable, operational strategies are shifting, and miners are exploring higher-margin opportunities beyond traditional cryptocurrency production.
Source:: Bitcoin Hashrate Falls as AI Competition Draws Mining Power Away