Key takeaways
- Bitcoin difficulty increased by 1.72% on May 29, with the hashrate surpassing 1.02 ZH/s.
- Hashrate Index data shows that the hash price fell 13.56% from the month’s high, reducing miners’ margins in May.
- Renewablox co-CEO sees Bitcoin mining evolving beyond hash power as the June 12 crunch approaches.
Bitcoin The difficulty approaches 139 trillion and sees a transformation of the industry
BitcoinThe stock price for the past seven days has been between $72,800 and $77,700, according to market data. These price levels have tightened the screw on mining profitability, weighing on bitcoin mining revenue, or the value generated by 1 petahash per second (PH/s) of computing power per day, a metric better known in the industry as hashprice.
As of this weekend, the hashrate price stands at $33.71 per PH/s per day, meaning miners are earning 4.99% less than 30 days ago, according to hashrateindex.com data. What makes the decline more notable is that hashprice briefly touched the $39 per PH/s mark twice in the past month. At its current level, the metric sits 13.56% below these recent highs.
On the other hand, bitcoin miners continued to add computing power despite falling revenues. Even with slimmer margins, network processing power has continued to increase. This week, BitcoinIt is hash rate pushed beyond the threshold of 1 ZH/s, and as of Saturday May 30, 2026, it stands at 1,018.59 EH/s or approximately 1.02 ZH/s. Since reaching 958 EH/s on May 18, the total hash rate increased by 6.32%.
Jason Deane: “The Bitcoin mining The industry is evolving
Co-CEO of Renewablox Jason Deane REMARK this week that BitcoinThe latest increase in difficulties to 139 trillion brings the network back to a level first seen around September 2025, although noting that difficulties have largely remained between 126 trillion and 156 trillion over the past eight months. He added that hash rate has “barely changed overall,” as large miners continue to shift resources toward artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, while natural network growth is offset by the exit of less profitable miners due to pricing pressure.
Deane believes the industry is evolving beyond pure mining, with a greater focus on grid balancing, heat generation, decarbonisation and reducing energy waste. “THE bitcoin mining the industry is evolving and, in my opinion, will likely become less centralized over time,” he wrote on X.
This growth accelerated block production and ultimately triggered a difficulty adjustment to block height 951,552 on May 29. Cloverpool.com shows that the network difficulty jumped 1.72%, from 136.61 trillion to 138.96 trillion. On the other hand, bitcoin miners continued to add computing power despite falling revenues. Even with lower margins, the network’s processing power has continued to increase.
With the hash rate above 1 ZH/s, blocks arrive a little faster, averaging 9 minutes and 53 seconds, and the next difficulty adjustment is expected to occur on June 12. For now, the network continues to present a familiar contradiction: mining revenues have cooled, but competition among miners remains intense.
If hash rate remains above the 1 ZH/s mark and block times continue to run ahead of schedule, Bitcoin could be headed for another surge in hardship in mid-June, adding yet another layer of pressure on an industry already facing tighter economic times.
If this trend continues, the result could fit Deane’s view that Bitcoin mining is gradually expanding beyond raw hashing power to become a more distributed industry focused on energy efficiency, network services and infrastructure innovation.
