Bitcoin Hashrate Drops 15% as Miners Redirect Power to AI Workloads
Bitcoin's network hashrate has finally slipped below 1,000 EH/s, coming in at around 993 EH/s according to Hashrate Index...
Quick overview
- Bitcoin's network hashrate has dropped to around 993 EH/s, a 15% decline from mid-October's peak.
- Miners are increasingly turning to AI and high-performance computing to stabilize profit margins amid rising competition for resources.
- The shift towards AI indicates that it has become a core focus for miners, rather than just a side project.
- Research suggests Bitcoin mining may help stabilize power grids, challenging the perception of its energy consumption impact.
Bitcoin’s network hashrate has finally slipped below 1,000 EH/s, coming in at around 993 EH/s according to Hashrate Index – something we havent seen since mid-September. That’s a 15% tumble from the network high point of 1,157 EH/s back in mid-October.
The decline in hashrate is no surprise given that even as Bitcoin difficulty has adjusted downward a few times since mid-November, and hashprices have actually gone up from $37 to $40 per petahash per day. When you look at the big picture though, the numbers are telling us that miners are still under a lot of pressure, even with higher block rewards.
- 7 day moving average: 993 EH/s
- Decline from October: 15%
- Hashprice: $37 to $40 per Petahash per day
This trend is a clear sign of the increasing competition going on for electricity and computer resources within the Bitcoin space.
Miners are now focusing on Another Key Project – AI
Miners are now using some of their electricity thats previously going to Bitcoin to do AI and other high performance computing jobs – its a way to get a more stable profit margin. Leon Lyu the CEO of StandardHash points out that mining facilities with plenty of power and cooling can quickly switch over to doing AI work, its a pretty straightforward thing to do.
Bitcoin Hashrate Alert: A Shift in the Mining Landscape 📉
For the first time since Sept 2025, BTC's 7-day average hashrate has fallen below 1 ZH/s. A -4.34% difficulty adjustment is expected in ~3 days.
What’s driving the exodus? 🧵
1️⃣ The AI Pivot: Major mining firms are… pic.twitter.com/hg8O8xBIkx
— Leon Lyu (@LeonLyuLv) January 19, 2026
If last year wasnt already tough enough for the miners, 2025 is shaping up to be even tighter. Revenue is going to be weak and debt is on the rise, so miners are looking for ways to keep their cash flow stable – and one of the ways they are doing that is by using their existing infrastructure to do AI work.
- AI has resources to compete directly with Bitcoin for power.
- Facilities can easily switch the workload around.
- Bitcoin mining is going to be an even tougher business to be in.
This is a pretty clear sign that AI is no longer some sort of side project for mining. Its now a core focus for anyone in the space who is trying to grab onto power
Industry Adaptation and Energy Insights
Its worth noting that the numbers on hashrate may be a bit misleading – some of the mining capacity is operating without announced or in private partnerships so its not all showing up on the radar as youd expect. Bitmain are also cutting their prices with the new S19 XP+ Hydro units coming in at around $4 per terahash.
Research done by Daniel Batten suggests that Bitcoin mining is actually helping to stabilise the grids and reduce the cost of electricity – and that challenges an idea that says it is actually the opposite. The longer this competition between mining and AI goes on the more its changing how capital and energy is being allocated in the sector.
- Bitmain are now selling hardware at much lower price points.
- Mining is actually helping to stabilise the power grid.
- AI is now a direct rival for power.
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