Bitcoin's mining difficulty rose again at the end of October, reaching roughly 148.36T after an increase of around 5.5% on October 29, 2026. Network hashrate estimates for early November cluster around 1,000 EH/s, though individual dashboards vary (figures from different sources range from roughly 950 to 1,090 EH/s, reflecting different measurement windows). The next difficulty retarget is expected around November 12-13, 2026, with early projections pointing to a modest decrease of roughly 1-3%.
What difficulty actually measures
Difficulty automatically adjusts roughly every two weeks (every 2016 blocks) so that, on average, a new block is found every 10 minutes regardless of how much total hashrate is pointed at the network. When more miners join or existing miners upgrade to more efficient hardware, difficulty rises to compensate. When miners drop offline — often because thinner margins make older hardware unprofitable — difficulty falls at the next adjustment.
Why this matters for your mining profitability
A rising difficulty directly reduces the expected BTC reward per unit of hashrate your rig contributes, all else being equal. In a high-difficulty environment like the current one, the hardware details that separate a profitable rig from a loss-making one are:
- Efficiency (J/TH) — newer-generation machines such as the Bitmain Antminer S21 series, Whatsminer M60 series, or Avalon A15 series consume significantly less power per unit of hashrate than older models.
- Electricity cost — use our electricity cost calculator to see exactly how difficulty-driven reward changes interact with your local power price.
- Firmware tuning — in some cases, a properly configured custom firmware can meaningfully improve the efficiency of existing hardware; see our modified firmware options.
If you want to track how difficulty trends interact with halving cycles over the long term, see our deeper dive in Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Explained and Bitcoin Halving Explained.
