Bitcoin (BTC) Network mining difficulty, the relative computational challenge of adding a new block to the blockchain’s decentralized ledger, decreased slightly to 146.4 trillion on Thursday, during the first difficulty adjustment of 2026.
“The next Bitcoin Difficulty Adjustment is expected to take place on January 22, 2026 at 04:08:12 UTC, increasing Bitcoin mining difficulty from 146.47T to 148.20T,” according to CoinWarz.
Average block times are 9.88 minutes as of this writing, slightly below the 10 minute goal, meaning the next difficulty adjustment will increase slightly to better align with the target block time.
Mining difficulties hit new all-time highs in 2025, with final adjustment of the year slightly increasing the difficulty level. However, even with this slight increase, difficulties remained well below the all-time high of 155.9 trillion recorded in November.
Increasing difficulty means increased competition for mining blocks on the network, presenting more challenges for the mining industry, which has suffered from macroeconomic, regulatory and financial headwinds in 2025.
Related: Bitcoin mining review for 2026: AI pivots, pressure on margins and fight for survival
2025 Was the “Hardest Margin Environment” Ever for Bitcoin Miners
Bitcoin miners experienced one of the most challenging profitability environments on record as profit margins eroded due to the April 2024 halving, which reduced the block grant by 50% and macroeconomic developments.
The crypto market downturn, which began in November, has put 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 spent mining blocks, fell below dead spots in November 2025.
$40 per petahash-second per day is the level at which miners must decide whether to shut down their rigs or continue mining blocks. In November, that measure fell below $35 – a multi-year low.
Customs tariffs adopted by US President Donald Trump Bitcoin miners strainedleading to fears of shortages in the supply chain.
A sharp downturn in the crypto market, triggered by a flash crash in Octoberslashed BTC prices by over 30% in November, when BTC bottomed just north of $80,000.
Although Bitcoin prices have risen since then, they remain well below the all-time high of over $125,000 reached in October.
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