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The Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) 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.&nbsp;
“The next <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/bitcoin-mining-difficulty-explained" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin difficulty adjustment</a> 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 <a href="https://www.coinwarz.com/mining/bitcoin/difficulty-chart" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">CoinWarz</a>.&nbsp;
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.
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 <img alt="Mining, Bitcoin Mining" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-01/019ba9c2-78df-78f5-9639-e2ed44a7044c.png" title="">
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 The Bitcoin network mining difficulty. Source: <a href="https://cryptoquant.com/asset/btc/chart/network-stats/difficulty?window=DAY&amp;sma=0&amp;ema=0&amp;priceScale=log&amp;metricScale=linear&amp;chartStyle=line" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">CryptoQuant</a>
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Mining difficulty reached new all-time highs in 2025, with the final adjustment of the year <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/btc-mining-difficulty-adjustment-2025-rise-jan" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">slightly increasing the difficulty level</a>. 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: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-mining-outlook-2026-ai-profitability-consolidation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin mining’s 2026 reckoning: AI pivots, margin pressure and a fight to survive</a>
<h2 id="2025-was-the-harshest-margin-environment-on-record-for-bitcoin-miners">2025 was the “harshest margin environment” on record for Bitcoin miners</h2>
Bitcoin miners experienced one of the toughest profitability environments on record, as profit margins eroded due to the April 2024 halving, which <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/learn/articles/bitcoin-halving-how-does-the-halving-cycle-work-and-why-does-it-matter" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">slashed the block subsidy by 50%</a> 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, <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-miners-enter-harshest-margin-environment-of-all-time" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">fell below breakeven levels</a> in November 2025.
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 <img alt="Mining, Bitcoin Mining" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-01/019ba9c4-560f-7d39-86aa-fabd85a38afd.png" title="">
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 Miner hash price over a 1-year period. Source: <a href="https://data.hashrateindex.com/network-data/bitcoin-hashprice-index" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Hashrate Index</a>
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$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 <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump-tariffs-bitcoin-mining-impact" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">strained Bitcoin miners</a>, creating fears of supply chain shortages.
A sharp crypto market downturn, sparked by a <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/trump100-tariffs-china-bitcoin-plummets-110k" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">flash crash in October</a>, 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.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/bitcoin-mining-industry-dead-2-years-halving-bit-digital-ceo/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin mining industry ‘going to be dead in 2 years’: Bit Digital CEO</a>

Bitcoin mining difficulty falls in first adjustment of 2026

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