Bitcoin mining difficulty fell 9.1% in November 2026, marking the network's largest downward adjustment since June 2026. Slower average block times of up to 10 minutes and 50 seconds triggered the automated recalibration as seven-day hashrate averages slipped between 963 and 1,069 EH/s. Driven by seasonal energy curtailments and softer post-October miner earnings, the lower difficulty provides relief to operators by increasing expected revenue per unit of computing power.
Mid-November 2026 difficulty drop details
- ▪Bitcoin's network is expected to complete a downward mining difficulty adjustment in November 2026, marking the network's largest difficulty reduction since June 2026
- ▪Bitcoin mining difficulty underwent a 10.09% drop during its June 2026 adjustment, which remained the largest single cut of 2026 prior to November
- ▪Bitcoin mining difficulty stood at 148.36 trillion (T) prior to the mid-November 2026 adjustment, following a 5.54% increase on October 29, 2026
Mining difficulty adjustment mechanism
- ▪Bitcoin's automated algorithm adjusts mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks based on actual block generation times to maintain a target of approximately 10 minutes per block
- ▪Bitcoin block generation times averaged between 10 minutes 46 seconds and 10 minutes 50 seconds leading into the mid-November 2026 difficulty recalibration
Early November 2026 network conditions
- ▪Bitcoin mining operators faced seasonal energy curtailments that required powering down hardware to ease electric grid strain and avoid peak energy pricing
- ▪Bitcoin market prices fluctuated between $75,000 and $77,000 in early November 2026 during a period of reduced hashrate
- ▪Bitcoin seven-day average total hashrate fell to between 963 EH/s and 1,069 EH/s in early November 2026, hovering around the 1 ZH/s (1,000 EH/s) milestone
- ▪Bitcoin mining hashprice, representing daily revenue earned per unit of computing power, fluctuated between $33 and $35 per petahash per day in early November 2026
Historical difficulty trends
- ▪Bitcoin mining difficulty reached an all-time peak of 155.97 trillion (T) in October 2025 and remained about 4.9% below that record for over 374 days
- ▪Bitcoin mining difficulty reached a combined 11.8% increase across two sharp adjustments in October 2026
Story comments
Loading comments…