The difficulty of Bitcoin mining has jumped by 15%, and it seems to be the largest increase since 2021. The number has risen to 144.4T. What's interesting is that while the price is trending downward, the difficulty is only increasing.

Hash rate has recovered from 826 EH/s to 1 ZH/s, but the actual profitability for miners has dropped to its lowest level in several years. It’s reportedly around $23.9 per PH/s. In other words, the network is getting stronger, but miners are facing squeezed profits—a somewhat delicate situation.

However, major operators with access to low-cost electricity appear to be continuing mining aggressively. Meanwhile, several publicly listed mining companies are shifting their hash rate to AI and data center businesses. That probably means those ventures are more profitable. Some companies are even completely shifting their focus away from mining.

Amid this reallocation, the hash rate remains steady, likely because large players are continuing to mine efficiently. Overall, I think the market is at an interesting point where difficulty increases and profit pressures are balancing each other.