Weekly Crypto Mining Report: Miners Face Higher Difficulty as Hashrate Tops 1 ZH/s

Bitcoin network hashrate stayed above 1 ZH/s for the entire week, averaging about 1,019 EH/s, up roughly 3.4% from the ~986 EH/s average in the previous edition (4-10 October). Hashrate peaked at 1,033 EH/s on Friday 16 October.

With difficulty fixed at 132.72T for most of the week, blocks continued to arrive faster than target: about 942 blocks were found in six days (≈157 per day, ≈9.2-minute average), around 9% above the 864-block target. Miners earned roughly 2,944 BTC of block subsidy, or about 491 BTC per day versus ~475 BTC per day the week before.

Block pace increased, so a retarget was expected. On Friday, at block 971,712, difficulty rose 5.92% to 140.58T, the third-largest increase of the year and the highest since March 5. Although hash price held around $39/PH/day for most of the week, it dropped to around $36.75/PH/day on Friday as difficulty increased and BTC eased to around $81.6K.

Bitcoin Mining Dashboard

Daily Network Data (11 – 16 October 2026)

Daily BTC mined (bars) against network hashrate (line). The dashed line marks the 450 BTC/day theoretical output at 144 blocks/day.

Each day this week exceeded the 450 BTC/day target. Wednesday 14 October was the best day of the week, with 163 blocks and about 509 BTC mined, 13% over the target. The table shows Friday's difficulty as 132.72T because the 5.92% increase took effect late that day.

BTC Production & Miner Revenue

In six days, a total of about 2,944 BTC was produced, almost entirely from the 3.125 BTC block subsidy, with fees estimated to be less than 1% of total miner revenue. On a daily basis, production increased to about 491 BTC from about 475 BTC in the previous week.

Bitcoin Mining Pools

The data shown below was compiled by ICR using block attribution data (1,080-block sample). Hashrate is implied by applying each share to ~1,019 EH/s.

The top five pools (Foundry USA, AntPool, F2Pool, ViaBTC and Mara Pool) produced about 79.5% of blocks, and the top three alone about 63%. AntPool gained ground versus the prior edition (~21.5% vs ~20%), and Mara Pool entered the top five at ~6.1%, pushing SpiderPool to sixth.

Top 5 Bitcoin Mining Countries

Hashrate shares (unchanged from last report) are from the Hashrate Index Q4 2026 Global Hashrate Heatmap, converted to hashrate by applying each share to ~1,019 EH/s.

Top 5 Mineable Proof-of-Work Coins

Source: minerstat.com/coins, top 5 coins in minerstat's default ranking (live snapshot 17 October 2026). LTC (2.677 PH/s) remains 6th.

ZEC was down about 14% to ~$1,146 while its difficulty rose ~29%; DOGE network hashrate roughly doubled to ~4.0 PH/s; XMR was up ~5% to ~$559; and BCH hashrate climbed to ~3.9 EH/s from ~3.2 EH/s.

Mining Cost & Profitability

Production cost of BTC for any fleet increases by 5.92% with the difficulty adjustment. Estimated electricity-only costs at the new 140.58T difficulty:

At a BTC price of ~$81.6K, the mid-case gross spread per BTC falls to ~$23.6K, or ~29% of the BTC price, down from ~34% in the previous report, as the higher difficulty and softer BTC price both squeezed margins. This is not corporate net profit: debt service, depreciation, hosting, staff, maintenance, SG&A, and financing costs are excluded.

ASIC Economics

After the retarget, at ~$36.75/PH/day, an ASIC breaks even on electricity when the tariff × J/TH is below roughly 1.53 (for example, $0.06/kWh × ~25.5 J/TH). The break-even threshold has tightened from ~27 J/TH last week.

Conclusion

For the coming week, we expect the network hashrate of Bitcoin to stay around 1,020 EH/s. Rising difficulty could temporarily slow block production and increase pressure on mining profitability. We also expect continued Bitcoin liquidations to increase price volatility and possibly put additional selling pressure on the market. Lower electricity costs and more efficient mining equipment give miners a competitive advantage as the market adjusts.

Source: Daily hashrate, difficulty, and block counts are from the Hashrate Index (11–16 October 2026). BTC mined = blocks × 3.125 BTC. Hashprice of ~$39 is estimated from difficulty, the average BTC price and a 0.7% fee share. The post-adjustment hashprice of $36.75/PH/day and the difficulty details are from Bitcoin.com News. Pool data was compiled by ICR, and country shares are from the Hashrate Index Q4 2026 Heatmap.