Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Update
As of February 7, 2026, the Bitcoin mining difficulty has recently seen some notable changes. It’s essentially an indicator of how challenging it is to add new blocks to the Bitcoin network.
Over the past 24 hours, the Bitcoin price fell about 11.16%, marking its worst drop in a single correction phase since China imposed a ban on crypto mining back in 2021.
Data from CoinWarz indicates that the Bitcoin mining difficulty currently sits at 125.86 trillion and was adjusted at block 935,429. Interestingly, the average block time was around 9.47 minutes, which is a bit shorter than the target of 10 minutes.
Looking ahead, CoinWarz predicts that the difficulty will likely rise by approximately 5.63% to 132.96 trillion during the next adjustment scheduled for February 20.
Historically, in May 2021, China announced its crackdown on crypto mining, which led to a series of downward adjustments in mining difficulty, ranging from 12.6% to 27.9% from May to July of that year.
This recent decline in difficulty comes in the midst of a broader crypto market downturn, as Bitcoin has fallen over 50% from a peak of more than $125,000 to a recent low around $60,000. Additionally, heavy winter storms across the United States have caused temporary halts for miners.
Interestingly, a severe winter storm, known as Winter Storm Fern, impacted 34 states in January, bringing snow, ice, and freezing temperatures, which disrupted power supplies.
This disruption prompted Bitcoin miners in the U.S. to cut back on their energy use, leading to a decrease in the network’s total hashrate—essentially the computing power used to maintain the Bitcoin network.
Notably, Foundry USA, the largest mining pool globally by hashrate, experienced a roughly 60% drop in hashing power during the storm. Its total hashpower decreased from nearly 400 exahashes per second (EH/s) to around 198 EH/s as a result.
As of now, the Hashrate Index reports that Foundry USA’s hashrate has made a recovery to over 354 EH/s, maintaining a market share of about 29.47%.
In light of recent market developments, the overall Bitcoin network hashrate plunged to a four-month low in January. This decline coincides with various miners relocating their operations to AI data centers and other advanced computing facilities.
Interestingly, some industry experts, like the CEO of Bit Digital, have suggested that the Bitcoin mining sector could face significant challenges in the next couple of years.
