Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Jumps 5.92% to High

BitcoinBTC-0.94% mining just got noticeably more demanding. On Friday, October 16, 2026, at block height 971712, the Bitcoin network adjusted its mining difficulty upward by 5.92%. This jump pushed total difficulty to 140.58 trillion, marking its highest reading since March 5, 2026. At the time of the adjustment, Bitcoin was trading at $81,628 (-0.45%) and EthereumETH-1.89% at $2,412 (-1.59%).

Understanding the Latest Difficulty Increase

This change marks the third-largest difficulty hike recorded in 2026. So far this year, the Bitcoin network has completed 21 difficulty adjustments, with this latest update representing the 10th upward adjustment.

Bitcoin uses difficulty adjustments to keep block times stable at around 10 minutes. Every 2,016 blocks—roughly every two weeks—the network measures how fast miners are solving blocks. If miners bring extra computing power online and solve blocks too quickly, the network automatically increases difficulty. If miners leave, difficulty drops.

Miner Revenues and Rising Computing Power

The main driver behind this recent jump was an increase in miner participation following improved revenue conditions over the past month. Miners track profitability using a metric called hashprice, which estimates daily revenue per petahash per second (PH/s) of computing power.

Revenue conditions shifted steadily over the past month:

• On September 16, 2026, the hashprice stood at $37.56 per PH/s.
• Daily mining revenue remained between 6% and 9% above September levels for much of the past 30 days.
• Hashprice rose above $41 on two separate occasions, including October 2.
• By Friday, October 16, the hashprice settled back to $36.75 per PH/s.

Past performance of digital assets or mining revenues is not an indicator of future results. Investors can check historical asset prices on Bitkub Market.

Bitcoin Network Hashrate Crosses 1 Zettahash

Stronger revenues motivated operators to connect more equipment, pulling total computing power—known as hashrate—back above 1,000 exahashes per second (EH/s), or 1 zettahash per second (ZH/s).

By October 16, total network hashrate was coasting at roughly 1024.96 EH/s, with block creation times averaging 8 minutes and 45 seconds. Because blocks were being discovered faster than the target 10-minute schedule, the system implemented the 5.92% difficulty increase to slow block generation back down.

Looking Ahead to the October 28 Adjustment

The next difficulty adjustment is expected around October 28, 2026. Early estimates point to a potential jump of 14.24% if miners continue processing blocks at the current rapid pace.

However, this figure is a conditional forecast. If block times remain well below 10 minutes, difficulty will rise sharply. Conversely, if total network hashrate drops or block times lengthen over the coming days, the final adjustment percentage could be significantly lower.

New Hardware Access for Individual Miners

In related industry developments, mining service provider Sazmining launched a new offering that permits individual buyers to purchase hardware developed by Block. The launch makes Block's Proto mining gear directly available to participants looking to operate hardware on the network.