The Bitcoin (BTC) network mining difficulty, the relative computing challenge of adding a new block to the decentralized blockchain ledger, fell slightly to 146.4 trillion on Thursday, in the first difficulty adjustment of 2026.
“The next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment is estimated to take place on Jan 22, 2026, 04:08:12 AM UTC, increasing the Bitcoin mining difficulty from 146.47 T to 148.20 T,” according to CoinWarz.
Average block times are 9.88 minutes at the time of this writing, slightly below the 10-minute target, which means the next difficulty adjustment will increase slightly to align better with the target block time.
Mining difficulty reached new all-time highs in 2025, with the final adjustment of the year slightly increasing the difficulty level. However, even with the slight increase, difficulty remained well below the all-time high of 155.9 trillion recorded in November.
The rising difficulty means increased competition to mine blocks on the network, presenting more challenges to the mining industry, which suffered from macroeconomic, regulatory, and financial headwinds in 2025.
Related: Bitcoin mining’s 2026 reckoning: AI pivots, margin pressure and a fight to survive
2025 was the “harshest margin environment” on record for Bitcoin miners
Bitcoin miners experienced one of the toughest profitability environments on record, as profit margins eroded due to the April 2024 halving, which slashed the block subsidy by 50% and macroeconomic developments.
The crypto market downturn, which began in November, placed additional pressure on miners and mining companies.
Miner hash price, a critical metric for miner profitability, which tracks expected revenue per unit of computing power expended to mine blocks, fell below breakeven levels in November 2025.
$40 per petahash-second per day is the level at which miners must decide whether to turn their rigs off or continue mining blocks. In November, this metric dropped below $35 — a multi-year low.
The tariffs enacted by US President Donald Trump also strained Bitcoin miners, creating fears of supply chain shortages.
A sharp crypto market downturn, sparked by a flash crash in October, discounted BTC prices by over 30% in November, when BTC hit a low just north of $80,000.
Although Bitcoin prices have rallied since that time, they are still far below the all-time high of over $125,000 reached in October.
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