Rising Pressure on Bitcoin Mining

The global bitcoin network just experienced a brief moment of relief, but the situation is changing quickly. The mining difficulty for bitcoin recently dropped to around 146.7 trillion after reaching more than 150 trillion in the previous adjustment. At the same time, the total computing power devoted to bitcoin has soared beyond 1.2 trillion hashes per second, showing that miners are still joining or upgrading equipment even when rewards are shrinking. Data platforms tracking bitcoin performance expect the next difficulty update near late October 2025, and projections suggest that bitcoin difficulty could jump to nearly 157 trillion. This shift means that anyone mining bitcoin will soon need even stronger hardware, more energy, and larger budgets to compete.

As the hashrate of bitcoin climbs, companies involved in bitcoin extraction are under growing strain from reduced payouts, intense hardware demand, and global trade conflicts. Many miners are turning to new strategies because relying only on bitcoin revenue is no longer enough. Some firms that once focused solely on bitcoin are investing in artificial intelligence data centers and other high-compute services. While these new plans may help them survive, they also create competition for electricity, since both sectors need huge amounts of power to stay profitable.

Another pressing challenge for the bitcoin ecosystem is the impact of tariffs and supply chain stress. Trade policies have raised the cost of buying specialized gear for bitcoin operations in some regions. If tensions between major economies continue, access to chips and advanced processors for bitcoin mining could become even more limited. All these factors place additional pressure on those depending on bitcoin as their core business model, making the future landscape of bitcoin mining more uncertain than ever.